I went to Japan, and was cornered by tourists who just wanted to touch my black skin

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I went to Japan, and was cornered by tourists who just wanted to touch my black skin

I’d barely been there 15 minutes

Long before my days at University, I had one dream (among many). But this was one that I had to accomplish, no matter what. This was going to Japan. To many of us, it’s a pretty normal dream, you know – something anyone could do. But for a little girl living in Nigeria, it was huge. So you can imagine my happiness when I found a course that would allow me to study the language and go to Japan.

It honestly couldn’t get any better than this. To say that the trip was unnerving, would be the biggest understatement. First of all, I had never been in a position where I was the only black girl amongst the crowd; so this was very new to me. All eyes were on me and to top it all off, I had a problem with my visa so that just drew more attention than I would’ve liked. It was the first time I was travelling by myself – alone, without my parents. To say I was nervous doesn’t even come close to the mess I was inside.

Getting to Japan, I went into full tourist-mode. My camera was prepped and ready to go, my phone was charged to 100 per cent and I connected to the first free Wi-Fi I could find. I decided to do all the touristy things that japan-guide.com had suggested, and after getting through the whole immigration hassle, I was ready to begin my year-long adventure.

After finally settling in to my dorms and going through what seemed like an endless series of orientations, I just wanted to be a tourist. Weird… I know, but the excitement was so real.

Hachikō Statue outside Shibuya Station

Just as I was about to take my first picture, I felt a damp, sweaty hand on my arm. Casually stroking up and down. Automatically I jerked. Good thing I didn’t swing because it turned out to be an old woman. Now a normal reaction might be like, “What the hell,” and move! But I simply stood there thinking, “Is she a ghost? Is anyone else seeing this?”

I started to have an internal panic attack. I was scared. So for someone not used to being alone, I thought, “What would Mum do at a time like this?” (My mum works at a care home so she’s practically a pro at dealing with the elderly). Then I thought, you know what? Just smile. A little smile goes a long way, right? But clearly this woman didn’t think so; her lip didn’t even twitch.

Suddenly another woman joined her, followed by another one. Soon I was surrounded by a Chinese tour group. Now, at any other time I would have milked the situation and revelled in the attention, but my confusion rendered me speechless. When I saw one of them focus their camera, it all started making sense.

You see, it turns out I was actually part of the tour itinerary as a black person who just wanted to touch my skin.

To say I was shocked would be the understatement of the century. I put it to you, what would you do in this situation? I mean, what could be done? I couldn’t necessarily freak out and yell for the police because they weren’t actually attacking me; and I couldn’t be mean and shrug them off because this was as much a first for them as it was for me. So I did what I do best; smile and pray that I wasn’t going to be kidnapped. After they had taken their fill of pictures, and the time of their life touching and pinching my skin, they finally moved on. Only thought in my head was, “What exactly just happened?”

Once the initial shock had worn off, I couldn’t actually focus on what I had come to Shibuya to do. I decided to take the train back to my dorms. Upon reflection, I couldn’t really be angry at the hoard of tourists admiring me like I was a Picasso painting or a rare species only seen in certain places at specific times. Instead, I’d say that I was sad. Sad, that some people still have such a narrow view of the world. As someone living in a diverse country, the thought that there were people, out there in the world, who knew no other race but their own never really crossed my mind. With the media showing us endless images of a world outside our own, it seems almost impossible to not know of anything other than what strictly happens around you.

I suppose in some way, the good thing about this experience was that, they treated me like something precious. Something delicate and that for me, turned this bizarre experience into something quite special.

Shibuya, Japan