After the tube bombing in London, people are not more acutely aware of other passengers, and some do not mind changing carriage or wait for the next train if they see "suspicious" (i.e. South Asian or Middle-Eastern-looking) people sitting in their carriage.
BBC News : The discomfort of strangers
I chose this article because I feel a certain similiarity between this new attitude of Londoners and how many Japanese people look at any foreign-looking person in their country. It is easy to guess what people are thinking from the way they look at you or behave around you. Some people are more receptive to these body signals than others. I am particularily sensitive to them.
I admit that I have felt times and again the way described by the Greek and Asian passengers above in Tokyo. The main differences is that the Japanese do not feel guilty about looking suspiciously at foreigners because they are not looking for a potential terrorist from a blacklisted country, but already looked at any foreigner (Caucasian, Middle-Eastern, African, South Asian or other East Asian) with suspicion well before 9/11 and the rerrorist paranoia. Nowadays, it may be true that they fear a bit more Middle-Eastern or Pakistani people, but there are very few of them in Japan anyway.
Usually, older Japanese people and children tend to be the most suspicious - old Japanese women being the worst. I was reminded today with all the typhoon warnings on TV and people urged by their companies to go back home earlier by fear of being stuck in a typhoon that was nothing more than a normal rainy day by Northern European standard, that Japanese people are a fearful bunch - some outrightly coward.
So yes, I do sympathise with these Middle-Eastern and South Asian looking Londoners giving distrustful looks. To avoid suspicious looks as much as I can in Tokyo, I have come to realise that wearing a suit, hanging with Japanese people, and NOT riding a bicycle (a sure way to get looks saying "hey here is a foreign bicycle thief yaro !") are good ways to reduce the tension engendered by being a tall, blue-eyed Caucasian in Japan.
BBC News : The discomfort of strangers
BBC said:...
Marcus, who says his family are Greek-Cypriot, has devised a strategy to avoid "odd looks" on the Tube (which he attributes to his Mediterranean appearance).
To make himself seem non-threatening, he now wears a Make Poverty History wristband and makes a point of reading the Economist.
"Whilst this sounds ridiculous it does reassure people around me. Of course, the whole thing is ridiculous but these are ridiculous times we are living in," he writes.
An Asian reader says fears about what people are thinking have stopped him carrying a rucksack.
"I do not take my rucksack to work anymore, which had my lunch and work shirt. I would rather wear a dirty shirt left at work than be looked at suspiciously. I also wear a T-shirt to work now, as I am afraid to wear too much, after the shooting," he writes.
...
I chose this article because I feel a certain similiarity between this new attitude of Londoners and how many Japanese people look at any foreign-looking person in their country. It is easy to guess what people are thinking from the way they look at you or behave around you. Some people are more receptive to these body signals than others. I am particularily sensitive to them.
I admit that I have felt times and again the way described by the Greek and Asian passengers above in Tokyo. The main differences is that the Japanese do not feel guilty about looking suspiciously at foreigners because they are not looking for a potential terrorist from a blacklisted country, but already looked at any foreigner (Caucasian, Middle-Eastern, African, South Asian or other East Asian) with suspicion well before 9/11 and the rerrorist paranoia. Nowadays, it may be true that they fear a bit more Middle-Eastern or Pakistani people, but there are very few of them in Japan anyway.
Usually, older Japanese people and children tend to be the most suspicious - old Japanese women being the worst. I was reminded today with all the typhoon warnings on TV and people urged by their companies to go back home earlier by fear of being stuck in a typhoon that was nothing more than a normal rainy day by Northern European standard, that Japanese people are a fearful bunch - some outrightly coward.
So yes, I do sympathise with these Middle-Eastern and South Asian looking Londoners giving distrustful looks. To avoid suspicious looks as much as I can in Tokyo, I have come to realise that wearing a suit, hanging with Japanese people, and NOT riding a bicycle (a sure way to get looks saying "hey here is a foreign bicycle thief yaro !") are good ways to reduce the tension engendered by being a tall, blue-eyed Caucasian in Japan.