Can't blend in

I had heard that foreigners often get stared at by Japanese people, so when I came to Japan I was prepared for that. At first I was almost disappointed that so few people seemed to notice me. In Nagoya, being the center of Japan's auto industry, I think there are relatively a lot of foreigners, especially in the area around my university. In my host family's town, which is in the country, (sorta) staring occurs more often though.
The majority of starers are little kids, so I don't mind. Besides, the great thing about little kids is that if you stare back at them, they don't get embarrassed and quickly look away. They just keep staring.
Old men also stare sometimes. One guy at the train station saw me, and his jaw dropped to the floor and his eyes got big and he stood frozen like that, quite unabashedly. About 30 seconds later I looked behind again and he was still in the exact same position. Godzilla could have just bought a ticket and boarded the train and his expression would have been the same. I imitated this for my host family at the dinner table and they said I looked like a Tom and Jerry cartoon.
Yesterday I was walking past a group of elementary schoolers who, like me, were on their way home from school. The boys were looking at me and giggling amongst each other when the bravest one shouted out to me, "haro!" which is the Japanese attempt at "hello." The funny thing was is that he rolled his "r" dramatically, as if speaking Italian, so it was more like "harrrrrro!"
This evening I went for a walk around my neighborhood. Two elderly ladies stopped me and started a little conversation, asking if I was from America and such. "You're very beautiful," they kept repeating. "Such white skin!" Yes, pale skin is preferred to tan skin here. Did I go to the right country or what?
Today I was talking to a fellow exchange student who is African-American and has a small mohawk. He says that when he boards the train here little kids freak out. He also said that he always tries to be really nice to the little kids so that when the next election comes around, they'll vote for him and he'll become the first foreign-born Japanese emperor.