Marc and fj.life.in-japan is a baaaaaaaaaaad combination:

>
>"Chris Kern" <chriskern99@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>news:1oa1svsdqefs285h69fm61grlssbtd86hq@4ax.com...
>>
>> "For a foreigner, even writing hiragana is amazing."
>>
>> Gee, thanks.
>>
>> And is it just me, or do some Japanese people have a mental block that
>> prevents them from believing that a gaijin can read or write Japanese
>> -- even if the ability is shown to them multiple times?
>>
>> It's even funnier when they forget to be surprised for a minute.
>
>Don't worry. After you've been in Japan for about 5 ~ 10 years it will
>appear quaint and you won't care anymore.

And the really odd thing is, there will be situations -- especially in the
larger cities such as Nagoya -- where some people won't even bat an eyelash.

I was standing outside a Circle K the other day puffing on a cigarette on my
lunch break, watching some sort of worker's group protest marching by, their
fists halfheartedly in the air mumbling anti-Koizumi slogans. From out of
nowhere, a man walks up behind me and thrust a yellow flyer in front of me
saying "いかがでしょうか？", reminiscent of the old woman handing Marty McFly a
pamphlet proclaiming "SAVE THE CLOCK TOWER!" in _Back to the Future_. It was a
flyer protesting the construction of the 徳山ダム in Gifu, an anti-pork-barrel
movement I was, in theory, supporting.

I was so surprised at not having been completely ignored that I nodded in thanks
and accepted the flyer. The man went merrily on his way.

I wanted to scream after him, "Waitagoddamnminit. I could have been a total
clueless temporary visitor tourist who can only read the kanji he's seen in
ninja movies. Why did you give this to me and not even think twice about it?"

Now, I realize he could have been just randomly handing the things out to get
rid of them, but then again, there were people standing right nearby who had a
higher probablility of taking the flyer -- of concern only to residents, and
residents of the Tokai area at that -- than I. Yet he went out of his way to
give *me* one.

Made me feel warm and fuzzy for a few minutes, it did.



-- 
The 2-Belo
the2belo[AT]msd[DOT]biglobe[DOT]ne[DOT]jp
news:alt.alien.vampire.flonk.flonk.flonk (mhm21x20)
news:alt.fan.karl-malden.nose            (Meow.)
http://www.godhatesjanks.org/            (God Hates Janks!)

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