Should all Japanese directly address foreigners in Japanese ?

[Elizabeth]

Well, I live in Tokyo's shitamachi (so East Tokyo), and that is where I have had the most problems with people making gestures and feigning not to understand (they were almost all above 50 years old, though, but there are lots of older people in shitamachi). But it's true that it is also mostly in shitamachi that some yakuza-looking guys start shouting strange things when I quietly walk in the street (very un-Japanese !), although that only happened 3 times in 3 years.

I've also been patronized and encountered more discrimination in Shinjuku or Kamitakaido (where I stay) than Yanaka. Shitamachi people do tend to be older and practice a more relaxed lifestyle, so someone has always had time to show me around, discuss the cemetaries, point to the still standing Nagaya structures, generally showing great patience with my Japanese (which at last visit was still quite formative)....

[Maciamo]

I've also been patronized and encountered more discrimination in Shinjuku or Kamitakaido (where I stay) than Yanaka. Shitamachi people do tend to be older and practice a more relaxed lifestyle, so someone has always had time to show me around, discuss the cemetaries, point to the still standing Nagaya structures, generally showing great patience with my Japanese (which at last visit was still quite formative)....

FYI, shitamachi is not Shinjuku, but what used to be the centre of Edo, that is Nihombashi, Kanda, Asakusa, Kagurazaka, Fukagawa, Mukojima, etc.

[Elizabeth]

FYI, shitamachi is not Shinjuku, but what used to be the centre of Edo, that is Nihombashi, Kanda, Asakusa, Kagurazaka, Fukagawa, Mukojima, etc.

Of course not, I've only been to Yanaka and the museum in Ueno, but I was trying to draw a contrast.