Foreign Women Stalked by Creepy Japanese Men?

Deas at RockingInHakata asked me and his readers –

"Are foreign women teaching ESL highly likely to be stalked by 'creepy' Japanese men?"

RIH thought I might have some "some anecdotal stuff or just insight of some kind" based on my nearly 20 years in Japan running an ESL school and the many teachers we hired, male and female alike.

The simple answer is, "no."

In twenty years of teaching in Japan, I never once heard of one of my teachers being stalked or of having any 'creep' being remotely over-agressive. I also never heard of any of the other hundred's of teachers and language school owners reporting the same.

I did, however, come across female teachers who thought they were being 'stared at,' 'focused on.' However, upon close examination it was usually the teacher who wanted/craved attention and not the Japanese giving it to them.

We were at the beach one day and one of my teachers said to me "look everybody is staring at me." Being the protective type, I looked, and nobody was staring at her.

And from my experience, I'm a guy remember, she had not the staring at type of body. Still, I  observed throughout the day.

There are indeed some 'creeps' in Japan. But not any more than there are in other countries. And the 'creeps' in Japan are usually nerdy and cowardly, too…the three characteristics kind of go together. 

I think it is called NEWS because it doesn't happen all the time. The British girl being killed by a Japanese guy…NEWS…very unusual.

The girl saying she was "stalked like Lindsay" …Daily Mail material. Why is she bringing it up now?

Japan is not perfect by any means. But, it's people are as a rule, civilized and respectful…except that is, for the news makers.

Thanks for asking.