Walking Badly

One impossibility I've never gotten used to while living here is the way people disregard their surroundings altogether when moving about on foot. Put a Japanese person in a car and he's a absolute robot of subtle awareness, but as soon as those heels hit the pavement, out come the cell phones, Sony PSP’s and manga comics.

At least once a day I'll be strolling down the sidewalk, minding my own business, only to have some High School student skip out of a doorway - with neither a look to the left or the right - lighting a cigarette or flipping open his keitai as he lands immediately in front of me.

Or in a crowded station, where people often finish their conversations with an acquaintance or a friend, then turn around suddenly and make to speed off, instead crashing directly into yourself. When I first got here I spent a lot of time dodging, ducking and diving to avoid these people, always amazed that they never took even a second to survey the landscape before barging ahead.

These days I just keep walking. At first that resulted in lots of crashing into other people and countless interrupted games of Tetris, but before long people seemed to sense my presence differently, and would kind of flow around me like any other obstacle hovering on the side-line. Now all I have to watch out for is the salary guys who puff away on crowded streets and sometimes give the wild, ciggy-in-hand gestures that regularly target the small space between my nose and forehead.