Sure, I expect Br995, and deathhare are more intimately aware of the cultural differences one is likely to encounter as a foreigner living in Japan than I am. I have a friend who lived there a couple of times as an exchange student, and while he did describe to me the cultural differences he noticed, rudeness was not among them. Anyway, surly bike shop employees seems to be something that crosses cultures, and I'm pretty willing to forgive it. I've been to plenty of bike shops that don't see me as their target demographic, and treat me as such. Shopping elsewhere works, especially if there happens to be a great shop next door.

I'm also aware that Makino is probably more of a frame building shop that caters to racers than it is a retail establishment. While some places like that welcome visitors, and are always happy to chat, retail isn't their primary goal, and many places would just as soon not have customers taking them away from their work. I would suck at retail. I would be a very surly bike shop employee. I'm guessing the guy they ran into, whoever he was, was probably not hired for his winning personality with strangers, but he's probably very good at his primary job.