Here is a funny little story that really blew up all over the net, and many foreigners can relate to it. 29-year-old DJ and musician Arni Kristjansson had a problem with Japaneese people staring at him while on the train or standing in line His solution is simple and it has worked well.
Here is the fancy idea, Wrap your book with a fake cover that reads “Why do Japanese People Stare at Foreigners?” in bold Japaneses text. Bamm! Problem Solved! His method is to wrap whatever book he’s reading in the faux cover and position it between himself and those with a staring problem. It seems to net laughs and from what he reports it’s working well. I like this solution, it is subtle and straight to the point and yet comical enough to offend the person doing the staring.
From His Blog, his reasons:
Through the years living here in Japan I’ve heard several non-Japanese friends of mine complain that they get stared at in public. When I heard of a recent incident I got the idea for this, a book cover for a fictional book called Why Do Japanese People Stare At Foreigners? by the fictional author Masao Suzuki (incidentally the ex-president of department store Matsuzakaya shares the same name).The idea is simple, print out this cover and wrap it around a book in Japanese. Then, as soon as you get stared at on the train or in a public place (to the point where it becomes uncomfortable) take out the book and pretend to start reading it while giving the starer ample view of the cover.
The starer is then made aware of the situation in the most Japanese of ways, through non-confrontation.
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