kuri wrote:
> Not at all. It's not insulting, it's tiring. It's because of the way it's
> been over-used in the present.
> For instance to express the result of clever observations :
> "Nihonjins have 2 eyes, gaijins also have 2 eyes. Dogs and cats too.
> Nihonjins can eat with chopsticks, normally gaijins can't but a few have
> learnt. Dogs and cats can't, but monkeys can learn.....".
> If at the end of the day, you still perceive gaijins as humans rather than
> pets, you're stubborn

True story.

Last Friday, I was driving through Shimoyama village, which has
recently become part of Toyota City (all of the villages in eastern
Aichi-ken have been gobbled up by Toyota, Okazaki and Toyokawa in the
last 18 months). Out of gasoline, I looked at the map and headed for
the nearest Cosmo. It consisted of 2 pumps, with a little shack next to
it. Nobody around at all, not even a resident village idiot screaming
"Orai!" ad infinitum. About 3 minutes after I stopped, a little old
lady walked across from a shop on the other side of the road.

"Regular, full tank please. I'll pay cash"
"Thank you"...

a few minutes pass as I don't think she knew how to pump the gas.

"Shall I wipe your window?"
"No thanks, its fine"
"Would you like me to empty your ash tray?"
"No thanks, I don't smoke. Neither do my customers" (points with thum
to back of the van)

a few more minutes passed.

"6500 (or something) yen please"

something that felt like half an hour passed, before she brought me my
change and a (handwritten!) receipt.

"thank you" says I.

"Are you a gaigin-sama?"
"Yes, indeed I am"
"We had a gaigin live here once"
"Here?"
"Yes. She was from Sri Lanka"
"Really?"
"Yes. She lived up there" (points to houses on hillside).
"That must have been nice. Ummm, this place (forgets name of village)
seems like a nice place to live"
"She liked tea. Would you like some tea?"
"I would but my minivan is full of these customers and we need to get
out of this shithole sometime this decade"

(OK so I didn't actually say that...)

"You are really a gaigin-sama? Where are you from?"
"I'm from Austria, and he's from Canadia, and he's from Igirisu, and
she is... (blah blah blah)"
"Oh. How interesting"

wonders whether to start the engine and burn rubber out of this place.

"Where are you from?"
"I'm from here"
"Of course"
"Would you like some tea?"

Starts engine.

"Oh, please wait"

Fuck. Do I have to? Bugger.

Another 10 minutes pass. I get more worried about our schedule at
Toyota.

"Please take this"

We receive a paper origami doll.

"How nice. Thank you berry much."
"Are you really a gaigin?"
"Are you sure you don't have time for tea?"

Burns rubber. We get to Toyota about an hour later.