Overrated Nikko

Of all the places I was looking forward to visit in Japan, it was Tochigi’s Nikko. I was drawn to Nikko due to my images of nature and its many world heritage sites.

Unfortunately, Nikko couldn’t meet my expectations (whatever they were) and left me with much bitter disappointment. A part of the negative experience could very well in part be due to my travel companion being a major pain since the morning of the trip. She was just bitchy AF and for the life of me, I could not comprehend why especially when she didn’t do any of the planning for this trip. (I kid you not unless you want to call a calendar showcasing our departure and arrival date as planning… Begin the eye rolling, folks.)

But minus her horrid crabbitude, Nikko was still a major disappointment.

The throngs of people was one thing. The exuberant admission tags to see things was another thing.

All in all, it was just a hot mess.

But the thing that truly got under my skin most of all was how foreigners were treated in Nikko.

If you were a White foreigner, you were treated nicely. You could be sensitive/insensitive, talk in crap level Japanese and still be treated super well in Nikko.

If you were a Chinese foreigner from mainland China, you were treated with disdain.

They make it pretty obvious in Nikko that they aren’t fond of Chinese people. (Sure, it’s a given that the Chinese and Japanese don’t have a wonderful history with each other, but you really get to see this in Nikko or at least I saw it.)

If you were a non-Chinese Asian foreigner, you were treated fairly nice IF you could pass as native Japanese (by looks and/or Japansee speaking ability) OR treated with disdain under the assumption that you’re Chinese.

As a non-Chinese Asian foreigner, you probably don’t know a lick of Japanese unless you learnt it in school or something and because of this you’d end up using English to the natives working in Nikko. Sounds ok, right? Yeah, but it’s actually not OK to the bulk of those working in Nikko. I don’t know what it is about being an Asian foreigner using English that rubs them the wrong way but I have a funny feeling they just default into assuming that you’re Chinese OR that you’re actually Japanese, but trying to be testy in English. Of course, my hunch on this could be wrong but this is honestly the vibe I picked up while in Nikko. Oh, and if you think you’ll be treated decently enough as an Asian foreigner with crap level Japanese, think again because that’s so not going to happen in Nikko. (Apparently, it’s not good or exotic enough for an Asian foreigner to be speaking crap level Japanese. *rolls eyes*)

So, Asian foreigners, there is no win-win situation for you unless you look native and can speak like a native. (But who TF does not want to just be themselves? Wouldn’t you want to be treated the same regardless of your ability to blend in or not? Meh.) And for the browner Asians, I can’t really give you much of a heads up on how you’d be treated in Nikko as I didn’t encounter any brown Asians while there.

Honestly, I’m clueless as to why these selectively “nice” natives were working in the customer service sector. There really was no reason for them to work in the tourism industry if they’re not comfortable interacting with non-Japanese natives and non-White foreigners. I’m hoping their warped mentalities don’t actually reflect how most people in Nikko are like, but if it is a good reflection of Nikko’s people as a whole, what is the point of opening historical sites for all to see? If they’re going to subconsciously cringe at non-natives visiting these precious sites, they might as well make these sites off-limits to foreigners. (Of course, doing so would be a dilemma in itself and make Japan, as a whole look bad. Meh.)

Interestingly enough, it wasn’t just the bulk of natives working in Nikko that were sourpusses as the natives visiting Nikko were actually quite something as well.

I remember running into my travel companion as the day came to a close where I bitched about my less than wonderful experiences with people. As I was sharing in English, I noticed a girl walking with her boyfriend that kept turning around to look at me and giggle. It was obvious that she found me humorous. Not sure if it’s from the expressive English I was using or if it was because I looked funny. (I doubt it’s the last part even though I admit that I always looked less put together than Japanese natives. Meh.) It was so rude. It’s like have you never seen a human being before? And have you never heard another language besides Japanese before? (The answer can’t be no because English is a freaking requirement in the Japanese education system.)

Fortunately, the guy put an end to playing along with his girlfriend’s nonsense after noticing me noticing their attention on me. So, thanks for being attentive or sensitive enough despite the fact that you were basically in on it, too in the beginning. Regardless, I’m still a tad bit grateful for him. I may have not understood/heard what he said to his girlfriend, but it was obvious that he was trying to subdue her non-stop “hysterics” towards me.

It amuses me that people like her think I wouldn’t notice or understand. Or worse yet, she might not have even cared that I would notice or understand. While language may not be universal, a lot of non-verbal actions are quite universal and it doesn’t take rocket science to decipher the meaning behind these actions.

I could be wrong but I have a funny feeling that neither of the two have ever set foot outside of Japan. Or if they have, it definitely wasn’t to a Western country. While there’s nothing wrong with that, it would explain why they had difficulty digesting someone that was so “different” from them. If she’s been to another country before and experienced stares and giggling from natives each time she spoke in Japanese or did something typically Japanese (ex. Saying “itadakimasu” prior to each meal.), I think she’d be more understanding and not as rude.

Oh, and if you can’t pick up on the trend, the experience above wasn’t the only rude encounter I had with a native tourist.

I encountered four female natives that were friends with each other. The four of them kept looking at me like an oddball. I assure you that I was not dressed like a weirdo. No skimpy clothing or anything like that. It was obvious they were taking smack about me. About what and why, I don’t know but it was clear that they were borderline disturbed with me. (My only guess is that they perhaps caught sight of me rushing to see a historical site before it closed up for the day. Who effin knows? Meh)

With me encountering so much rudeness in one day and one particular place, I could not help but to wonder what is up with all these foreigners stating how polite the Japanese people are. Sure, I have enough common sense to realize that there are both polite and impolite people everywhere, but I found this stereotype to be bizarre since I encountered rudeness more often than I encountered politeness. (And yes, I’m not just talking about Nikko right now.)

I’m thinking being obviously foreign helps at receiving politeness as you can stand out like a sore thumb (ex. From the way you physically look to the way you dress.) or do things that aren’t a Japanese norm (ex. Farting in public?) without being reprimanded. You’ll be disregarded because you don’t know any “better” or aren’t expected to know any better as a foreign visitor. There’s this and then there’s the possibility that the foreigner isn’t able to read/see between the lines of what’s going on and makes the mistake of identifying the interaction as politness when it clearly wasn’t politeness.

Regardless, this stereotype is a joke and shouldn’t be taken to heart especially if you’re a foreigner that doesn’t look too foreign compared to the average native. If you’re Asian or look Asian, don’t say I didn’t warn you on this. (If you’re an observant person, you’re not going to be happy with the way people treat you when you do something un-Japanese, despite not knowing “better” and despite it being a norm in your home country. I can’t really think of an example at this moment but a good one might be standing on the right side of the escalator instead of the left side at Kyoto Station. Some crap like that.)

Based on the experiences I’ve shared in this entry, what do you think I think of the bulk of Nikko-ites? Rude, obviously. I say this because a truly polite person is not going to be selective in how they treat others. A truly polite person is not going to pull a 360 on you when you start taIking in English simply because they expect you to speak in Japanese or are dumbfounded by the assumption that you’re Chinese.

Rudeness aside, Nikko lacked warmth. Often, I saw xenophobia and some form of discrimination. And this was a such a shame since I had Nikko at the top of my “to visit” place in Japan. Instead of it being a relatively nice experience, Nikko became a place I disliked most of all in Japan.

So, if I had the opportunity to go to Japan again, would I visit Nikko again? Honestly, I want to flat out say no but I also realize that there were many places that I did not get to see in Nikko and a lot of these places are natural sites. Since natural sites would usually be free of employees that could possibly be rude (rolls eyes), I feel I might have a decent time in Nikko if it’s just nature and me. Afterall, the trees in the forest will treat both foreigners and natives the same, right? Plus, to be fair, some of the people working in Nikko might not actually be from Nikko, right?