A westerner-looking foreigner over here (non-Asian). Sometimes, I seriously feel like I am targeted in public transportation by passive-aggressive people. :(

A Japanese dude directly looked at me before we entered the crowded train. Then before the doors closed he kept trying to push me out of the train using his back. It was dangerous as I could’ve gotten the doors closed on me. It was scary. Then the entire train ride, he continued to lean his entire body weight on me. I could see him craning his neck to see where I was standing behind him and then he kept pushing/leaning on me. It was starting to affect the other passengers because as I was squished, the people next to me would get squished too. I was so happy to switch to my next train.

Then it got a little weird. I was able to get a seat in my next train which was awesome... I was focused on looking at my phone so I completely didn’t notice that a pregnant lady was standing in front of me. (No, I wasn’t sitting in a priority seat.) The only reason why I noticed her is because she would use her “pregnant woman” keychain and hit my cellphone with it. (I didn’t notice what it was at first.) A few seconds later, she kept bumping my cellphone with it and this is when I noticed what exactly it was and decided to give up the seat for her. I didn’t want her to trip as the train was moving so I waited for the next stop and then immediately gave her the seat and stood a bit far off from her.

Of course, if a pregnant woman or someone who looks like they’re struggling to stand is in front of me, I will give my seat to them. Usually when you try to give up your seat, the Japanese cultural response is to refuse it the first time. 遠慮 and all that. LOL, not this lady which made me seriously question if she was being very strategic in getting me to move. (I’ve had countless Japanese people tell me that I come across as amiable—which is both a good thing and a hinderance at times.)

Maybe she was having a bad day and was extremely tired. Like I said, I totally don’t mind at all to give up the seat to a person in need, however, how some people go about getting their needs attended to can come across kinda...passive-aggressive, I guess. This was no where near as bad as that first guy though.

Hm. I think I’m just tired of passive-aggressiveness on all levels. I feel better to get this off of my chest though. No hard feelings. :’)