"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/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/Jeffrey_Friedl → u/iTwango]

This guy sounded British, but anyway, it's not that the Japanese are "against" it, but most people just don't feel the physical need for them, so among Japanese and others with dark eyes, sunglasses are adopted for style purposes (such as the stereotypical yakuza boss using them to look "cool" or "intimidating" or the like). But there's no stigma against them.

I have blue/green eyes and am very sensitive to bright light, so I can't go out without sunglasses.

My motorcycle helmet has a drop-down tinted visor, but I always flip it up before pulling alongside someone to tell them about their brake light, simply because being able to see who is suddenly addressing you seems a lot better than a voice from behind a dark glass.

[u/iTwango → u/Jeffrey_Friedl]

There is a stigma against them I think, I attended a lecture from a fashion professor in Japan about this and then did a breakout session with a 50/50 mix of Japanese and non-Japanese students; out of everyone in the room I think only ONE of like ~twenty students (mostly girls, even) even owned them, and none had them with them. The only one that did was an outdoor sports fan (golf or something I think?) whereas the Americans pretty much all did.

I've actually been doing some academic research about it, and it's thought to tie back to a Japanese tendency to apply more significance to the eyes instead of the mouth in determining emotion and "the window to the soul". I've been having to apply that to social robot design because Japanese robots seem to often focus entirely on the eyes but never the mouth for this reason I think.

I remember some photos being shown of the American president Joe Biden being shown next to the Queen and all of the Japanese students in the group were aghast that he would keep his sunglasses on while near the Queen. The consensus seemed to be that pretty much outside of driving it's very rude and would be avoided by most Japanese.

That being said just like you, I am partial to not having my retinas burned by Kansai summer sun so I tend to do it anyways, lol 🤣 I do wonder if the eye colour makes Japanese people less affected by the sun. Would make sense!

Have a nice day friend~~

[u/Jeffrey_Friedl → u/iTwango]

I’ve lived here most of my life, but I’m sure your lecture gives a better sense of the actual reality than my 30 years being steeped in it.