When I was back in the UK, I would sometimes go somewhere to get a coffee, sit down, and people-watch. In Bath, this used to be great, because of the large number of foreign tourists as well. Use to find it interesting to see how they reacted to their surroundings and each other. Likewise, it was just as interesting watching locals doing the same thing.

Now, usually I noticed in the UK in a coffee place, it was usually pairs (or greater) of people. However, sometimes, you would have some people like me who were there by themselves. Sometimes they would be reading a book, but most of the time they all seemed to be doing the same thing as me… peoplewatching.

These days, before I head off to Japanese class, I quite often into Starbucks to do some revision and peoplewatch (I would prefer to go to Excelsior, but there doesn’t seem to be one around near where I study in Hiroo).
Just like the UK, you see groups of people going in, to have a coffee and chat. Well, I suppose one difference is that there are a lot of female high-school students there, sometimes with boyfriends in tow. Don’t see many school kids in Starbucks in the UK.
No, the real difference is the single people there. Japanese people on their own, don’t appear to peoplewatch, not that I can see anyway. Sure, sometimes they’ll look up (and usually spot a foreigner and stare a bit at them), but then they get back to being in their own private little world oblivious to what is happening on the outside. Of course, the mobile telephone in Japan, really allows them to do this. As soon as they sit down (just like on the train), out snaps the phone and they emmerse themselves into it.

Now, I suppose I could come up with a half-baked theory about “In-group, out-group” interaction… but then again, I’m not a Psychologist, so I won’t :)

Actually, the people in the Hiroo Starbucks is quite an interesting mix. There are a lot of foreigners, due to the proximity to the Embassy buildings near by. There, is an International School nearby as well, which means its quite often frequented by kids. These kids are either completely non-Japanese, half-Japanese, and sometimes fully Japanese. For some reason though, its the half-Japanese bunch that cause my brain to freak out. Once, I saw some, sitting down discussing some homework I guess. All the discussion was in perfect American English, complete with full blown American accent. All coming out of kids who looked Japanese to me (not quite 100% though, something looked slightly amiss). I guess I’ve got so used to Japan being this homogenous society, its strange when you see something out of the norm. I think the following week I was there, I ended up seeing the opposite. Two Western looking students (not 100% Western looking, there was a little hint of Japanese DNA in the appearence), speaking and writing what looked like perfect Japanese. Again, by brain goes nuts because of the mixed messages as it were coming from ears and eyes.

Then again, it’s not all one-way traffic. I did catch one Japanese chap do a double-take when he walked past me. I was doing some homework at the time, and I was writing some Japanese (mainly hiragana, but using kanji where I could). I think he must have had one of those moments of mixed messages to the brain too! :)