Assumptions that gaijin cannot speak Japanese (at all)

[Ma Cherie]

You know Maciamo, I would think you'd be use to some of those remarks by now. But then I don't know how long you've been living in Japan. I still wonder, I read most of your post and it doesn't seem like there has been a instant where a japanese person didn't make the assumption that you were from America. Or asked you where you were from, or assumed that you could speak japanese. You're a teacher, right? Have you ever gave lectures on cultural differences about Europe? I know you teach English and Italian, and teaching another language doesn't just mean learning about the language, it also means learning about the people who speak it. I'm just curious, but I was wondering, what are you doing to help change the way some japanese people think about the West?

[Maciamo]

I still wonder, I read most of your post and it doesn't seem like there has been a instant where a japanese person didn't make the assumption that you were from America.

Really ? I never said that. I said that most Japanese assume that Westerners are American, but few will actually say it aloud. As a teacher, the students all know where I am from before meeting me first, or I tell them at the first time we meet. What is amazing is that some of them still manage to keep the image "Westerner = American" after that, although there is little in me that fits the stereotype of the "typical American". I don't speak loud (sometimes too low), I hardly ever eat fastfood and never drink soft drinks, I don't wear very casual clothes, I am not Christian... But people who haven't been introduced to me very often ask me if I am American, as it is fixed in Japanese mind that someone with blue eyes must be American.

You're a teacher, right? Have you ever gave lectures on cultural differences about Europe? I know you teach English and Italian, and teaching another language doesn't just mean learning about the language, it also means learning about the people who speak it. I'm just curious, but I was wondering, what are you doing to help change the way some japanese people think about the West?

I do my best to tell all my students about cultural differences between European countries, or Europe and America. But it's not what is going to change the mainstream.