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Oh goody, I just finished a class on Japanese culture so I can act like I know what I am talking about!
The business with the "Where from" and the pen makes me thing you might have run into what my professor calls an "English leech". These are Japanese people who are desperate to practice their English and will latch on to any "American" (which they will often use with Canadians, Scottish, pretty much anyone from the west) in order to use the few English phrases they know. He probably knew very little English, enough to say "Where from" and "pen", so he just reused them. My professor related an identical experience where he was handed random objects by people who knew their English name and almost nothing else, smiling like an idiot the entire time.
As for their policy toward foreigners, it is really an interesting topic. In different cases outsiders can be considered literally "dangerous" or in other cases like particularly auspicious dates can be considered as "divine". You may never know for sure if the girls were shy or just not interested, but they were probably humoring their elders. Once you showed your obvious awkwardness the amusement probably stemmed from the old guy pestering you.
The comments about white skin and blond hair was most likely a compliment; most asians view light skin and hair as the ideal in beauty, much like Americans tend to view a good tan.
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