This was a heartwarming story. I might add my own experience as a half Japanese/north European that recently moved to Japa. I've experienced the empty seat thin

This was a heartwarming story. I might add my own experience as a half Japanese/north European that recently moved to Japa. I've experienced the empty seat thing too, but it's not as bothersome as the people that stand up and move to other seats seconds after you sit next to them in a crowded train, now that makes me nervous. Being a foreigner does come with some perks I sometime envy though. Because I speak the language fluently, and one of my parent being Japanese, I'm sometime just labeled as "a rude person" when I act like a foreigner (where I'm born and raised), while a foreigner would just get a pass as people think "he just don't know how things work around here". I do feel that too many foreigners (including me) jumps to the "racism" explanation too quickly though. It's not unreasonable because some things, such as finding a apartment as a foreigner are a experience filled with racism. Japan sure don't mind writing racism down on their list of preference. But most Japanese people simply runs on auto-pilot most of the day, and if they see something out of the ordinary (foreigner in the train) they just get really confused and stay away. Giving them a smile and a friendly nod usually lower their alertness pretty well.