Probably best never to acknowledge him. Being able to pretend that you and/ or other people don’t exist is one of the things that makes life in a Japanese city bearable…

God haven’t you been in japan long enough to know that the man is essentially invisible to everyone else. He is off doing his own kooky thing on his own time in his own place and bothering no one. You are taking photos of him and wondering why you haven’t yet intruded on his morning ritual.
Yeah, why don’t you traipse down there and stick your face in his. Wow how seamlessly you have blended into japanese society.

There is a certain joy to affecting invisibility, and an enjoyment to observing invisible people. I don’t acknowledge them, except to tell their stories here and there later on.

Nelson, no length of time in Japan will ever allow me to blend into Japanese society, no matter how much I try or want to. I observe and comment from a sympathetic outsider’s perspective and hope that my vignettes evoke a response in people who see and read them. Apparently I succeeded in your case.

I think you’re right. Rereading your original comments - yours was a statement of mere observation and not judgemental or interfering. My comment was a kneejerk reaction and unfairly made.

Yes I don’t interfere with japanese society other than taking up space and oxygen, but I don’t blend in either. At first I wanted to be more like the japanese and fit in better, but now, years later, the more I get to know japanese people, the less I want to be like them. I think most people remember the time that they first became aware of the fact that japanese people are not really polite, not kind, not tolerant, not (insert your adjective here).