Wow man, that's an amazing story! I can't say I'm exactly dying to go to Argentina, but I figured since I want to go land in Brazil and travel counter-clockwise through the continent, that Argentina would be a logical destination so why not check it out. But the whole staring thing would drive me nuts as I'm the type of person that doesn't like drawing lots of public attention to himself. Your report isn't the only one I've heard like that. Although your's is the first that I heard someone trying to start a fight. I'm now leaning against going there, which sucks because that means I'd have to fly from Brazil to Chile instead of slowly make my way over.
If you really wanted to piss off that Argentine guy should you've said that comparing an African to an African-American is like comparing an Argentinian to a Guatemalan.
Damn, so were any of the people there friendly towards you?
Unfortunate what the army guy reports. I've been a few places, and can't say I ever felt uncomfortable as a black person anywhere except for Spain. England was no issue, France was no issue, Italy no issue, Holland was cool, Thailand was cool. Canada is cool. Spain gave me a weird vibe(no surprise since the Argentines are wanna be Spaniards). Mexico was mostly cool, but when I was there, I was one guy hanging with 2 latinas and when I was with them, I would get quite a few dudes rubber necking, and it was entirely from guys so I think it might have been more a jealousy thing more than out and out racism. I've never been to Japan but want to go. I've heard mostly good things about it. Most young Japanese are pretty cosmopolitan and hip so I can't imagine having problems exploring the nightlife and stuff, but there's certain areas you can't go like Japanese-only spas and such.