Well, I was that nail accidentally during my trip in Japan.
You see, I stuck out like a nail, or a sore thumb as the saying goes.
Fortunately, I didn't get hit on the head, though I suppose my sticking out was mostly unintentional...
Tall, round-ish eyed, and pale (not Nicole Kidman pale, but clearly of Euro-caucasian descent), I stood out in the sea of relatively short, slanty-eyed, black-haired rice-lovers.
You see, my friend Koko has a fantastic and sometimes sick sense of humor. While walking in the train stations in Japan, which are teeming with Japanese citizens going to and fro, Koko would slow down her gate and blend in with the other Japanese citizens - causing me to stand out even more (as I suddenly became a solo, tall caucasian traveler), and had a brief and irrational panic that I'd lost my Japanese-looking and -speaking friend and tour-guide. She'd reveal herself soon enough after watching me look around unsuccessfully for her.
It was actually quite funny and after the first time, I knew Koko was doing this for her amusement and mine, so I'd play my part and look around at the sea of black-haired people milling around, the tops of their heads at the base of my eye-line.
It was quite an experience. In all my travels up to that point, I'd never been such an oddity. I'd always either traveled with other Americans, or seen other round-eyes while traveling on a regular basis. In Japan, I went for a whole week without seeing another human who looked remotely like me.
Funny thing is, as most new-age types will tell you, we're more different than we are similar. We all just want to connect, feel like we have a purpose, and express ourselves. That's what I found, anyway.
Though, I didn't speak the language, so maybe they were all just quietly laughing at the tall, round-eyed American walking through their train station like a lost, sticking-out nail.
