another day. another post.
Today I took a little excursion around the part of the city I will start teaching in tomorrow. It is a very nice part of the city...I guess highly ranked among the franco and anglophiles based on the number of french and english boutiques and cafes. This is the first area of Tokyo I have really liked. However, today I learned a very valuable lesson.
Like I said, I was walking around this new part of the city without a map. (I think the Japanese fear all types of maps because I have yet to locate one in the city, but this might make sense considering they also fear using signs to indicate streets, subway stops, and the like.) So, I was wandering around the little side streets with only my sense of cardinal direction to guide me. So, I ended up wandering into a very nice residential neighborhood. This was the first time I have seen an actual house since leaving Wisconsin last week. I was a little nostalic, so I went weaving though this area as well.
I was on a very little street, maybe one car wide, and I saw this large black mercedes approaching me, so like anyone with common sense, I moved over to one side as to not be hit. Well, the car slows down and puts on his hazard lights. I was thinking, "is this a sign that he is turning? am I in his way?" So, the car comes to a stop right next to me, so I just figure I must right in front of his garage. I just scuttle around the car and keep moving. About 10 seconds later I hear very loud Japanese behind me. Some phrase I couldn't understand. (Not that I can understand any Japanese just yet.) I think the guy was yelling at me, but I didn't turn around and just kept walking. I thought this was the best thing I could do. If he really needed to talk to me he could have run up beside me and got my attention. I really didn't feel like being cross-examined in Japanese as to why I was in this nice neighborhood. Or something to this extent. It scared the crap out of me.
So, my valuable lesson of the day is that while the Japanese love french and english/american culture they really hate the gaijin (foreigners.) This has been my impression since I arrived here. There are signs on some restaurants that say, "no gaijin." But, yet the Japanese are always using romanji (roman alphabet) and can't get enough of products which are written in English. It is a frustrating state of affairs.
Like I said, I was walking around this new part of the city without a map. (I think the Japanese fear all types of maps because I have yet to locate one in the city, but this might make sense considering they also fear using signs to indicate streets, subway stops, and the like.) So, I was wandering around the little side streets with only my sense of cardinal direction to guide me. So, I ended up wandering into a very nice residential neighborhood. This was the first time I have seen an actual house since leaving Wisconsin last week. I was a little nostalic, so I went weaving though this area as well.
I was on a very little street, maybe one car wide, and I saw this large black mercedes approaching me, so like anyone with common sense, I moved over to one side as to not be hit. Well, the car slows down and puts on his hazard lights. I was thinking, "is this a sign that he is turning? am I in his way?" So, the car comes to a stop right next to me, so I just figure I must right in front of his garage. I just scuttle around the car and keep moving. About 10 seconds later I hear very loud Japanese behind me. Some phrase I couldn't understand. (Not that I can understand any Japanese just yet.) I think the guy was yelling at me, but I didn't turn around and just kept walking. I thought this was the best thing I could do. If he really needed to talk to me he could have run up beside me and got my attention. I really didn't feel like being cross-examined in Japanese as to why I was in this nice neighborhood. Or something to this extent. It scared the crap out of me.
So, my valuable lesson of the day is that while the Japanese love french and english/american culture they really hate the gaijin (foreigners.) This has been my impression since I arrived here. There are signs on some restaurants that say, "no gaijin." But, yet the Japanese are always using romanji (roman alphabet) and can't get enough of products which are written in English. It is a frustrating state of affairs.
posted by Tangerine at 3:56 AM
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