one thing i really dislike about being a (n obvious) foreigner in japan is the stares i get. especially from children. i could rant on and on about things that have happened to me (like the kids in my town who called out, "nihao!!" to me when i was a JET. WTF??)

now that i have a baby it's a little different. either they see a foreigner with a stroller and just have to look at hiro. or they notice a little 'haafu' boy, or even worse, a little boy with a strawberry mark on his forehead. it really bothers me to be stared at and talked about, probably because it's very bad manners back home (doesn't seem to be bad manners here at all...)

well now, it has become worse. today a little girl, maybe seven or eight years old, took a deep intrest in hiro and kept staring at him. she'd run off and then come back and just stare. so much so that hiro actually noticed and was disturbed. mad. offended (well, as much as a 17-month-old could be). he actually looked at her and then made the sign for 'no'. he wanted her to go away and stop looking at him. poor little baby. part of it probably has to do with his current stranger anxiety but...usually he likes other kids and watching them run, shout or play. the girl wasn't very close, so i couldn't tell her off for getting in our personal space. but maybe i could have told her to stop staring....