"How about some English?"

[u/Jeffrey_Friedl]

As I have at least 1,000 times before, on my bicycle I came up to a vehicle stopped at a light and let the driver know that their brake light was out. It's an easy, low-effort way to help people out.

This guy was on a beat-up old scooter, wearing a full-face helmet with big dark sunglasses. All I could see of his face was his nose and gray scruff, and he showed no response other than looking in my direction. We're in Japan and maybe my Japanese wasn't clear, so I said the same thing in a different way, saying that he should change the bulb on his brake light.

More stare, and then in a upper-class British English: "How about some English?"

Not "Sorry, I don't speak Japanese" or "Oh, do you speak English?".

"Fuck dude, we're in Japan and you have a full-face helmet on, what do you expect?" followed by "Your brake light is out."

More stare. No "Oh, thanks" or anything like that.

Sigh.

[Before anyone comments about it, I make sure to pull up in a nonthreatening way, keeping distance from the vehicle and pulling slightly forward before stopping so that they're not surprised by a big white dude addressing them from the corner of their eye. The vast majority of people are surprised and thankful to be told.]

[u/tooncyberdragon420]

The audacity of that bloke!!

[u/GinaMarie1958]

I was really grateful to the young man on a motorcycle who saw my bungi net entangled in my truck tire and let me know. Luckily it wasn’t too much of a mess to deal with.

Thank you for being you!

[u/Amplidyne]

No good deed goes unpunished.

I used to bother. Back in the 70s, a good mate of mine who was a lorry driver, told me that drivers always like to be told of blown lights, as it's an easy pull for the law, and nobody wants that.
Used to be that whatever they were driving, private or commercial. you'd get a "Thanks pal" sort of response. Sometimes "I'll see to that before I get a pull"
These days you either get treated as a nuisance, or ignored.

So now I don't bother,

[u/iTwango]

Sounds like a rude interaction, sorry about that friend :(

Is it normal to wear sunglasses while scooter-ing there? My understanding is most Japanese people are pretty against wearing sunglasses most of the time

[u/OscarGravel]

I feel that immigrants to new countries often bring their own bad habits from theirs. Often, each native from every country often have habits set to theirs.

My friends who immigrated from India often drive rashly likely due to their habits of bad traffic in India.

Or my parents who carries a slight disdain for people of different colors or genders, simply due to the norms in China and Korea.

[u/Kinghamsterr]

This is what happens when you try to be nice in the world. Thank you for being the kind person you are, but to protect your peace, just keep to yourself next time.

[u/Jeffrey_Friedl → u/Kinghamsterr]

Nah, I'll continue. I've done it literally over 1,000 times, and I've had two experiences like today: today's and one where the guy in a work truck just waved me off for bothering him. The vast majority of folks indicate appreciation.

[u/Kinghamsterr → u/Jeffrey_Friedl]

That's good news! I agree with continuing on doing this if you've had majority of folks appreciate this. You're saving lives