> However, I feel incredibly welcome as a foreigner, and I believe that most friction between native Japanese and foreigners can be attributed to a language bar

> However, I feel incredibly welcome as a foreigner, and I believe that most friction between native Japanese and foreigners can be attributed to a language barrier. I felt this too. All of my interactions with Japanese people during a short trip were positive. They were super kind and friendly. The one unusual interaction was when I was sitting on the side of the road, scrolling on my phone. A guy comes up to me and tells me not to sit there. I try asking him why, but he’s unable to explain to me. I try using the translate app but it didn’t work for us. It’s possible to interpret this as him being unwelcoming but it’s probably just that I was breaking some unwritten rule and he didn’t know how to explain it in English. If anyone can explain this to me, I’d be grateful. I was sitting on the tiny bump on the side of the road near Meiji Jingu (like this, but not near any structure - https://images.app.goo.gl/SY8mqcym2jNS9tsdA https://images.app.goo.gl/SY8mqcym2jNS9tsdA)