Favorite Moments from Life in Japan
Let me attempt to relate some of my favorite moments from my life here in Japan. In order to do so in a compelling, though oft-used way, I shall compile my in a top-ten list style, though there may be more or less than 10 depending on how well my brain is working tonight and though I shall make little effort to actually put them in "correct" order of comical impact.
Ahem...
5) One night, I was riding my bike through a popular park in Mito and went down a dark alley. Before I could process what was happening, I found myself flying over my handlebars and through the air in perfect Peter-Pan-formation. I then landed squarely on my chest and chin, but was completely uninjured. When I got up and realized what had happened, I laughed my head off: I had run my front tire smack-dab into a short but sturdy concrete roadblock, which was completely dislodged from the ground.
4) My first or second week at school (during the summer), my teachers indicated that one teacher would go to a grocery store to get food. I tried to tell her I wanted beef curry, but somehow failed abysmally, despite half an hour of whole-hearted effort on both sides. So they made me go with her. We made the trip with little dialogue exchanged and no hitches, but upon returning to our teacher's room, the Japanese teacher who had escorted me boisterously announced my lunch choice: Beef and curry! And they absolutely laughed their heads off. The whole room erupted with laughter. "The gaijin just wanted beef curry?! Are you joking me?!" Something about it all was apparently unbearably funny. Welcome to Japan.
3) Passing my elementary's schoolchildren everyday as I walk to work, who despite having seen me nearly everyday for the last four months, still giggle, and shuffle, and point as if I were a rock star.
2) I stopped at a traffic light. Two little girls were on bikes across the way. I noticed them staring at me. As we finally crossed the street, they were noticeably getting excited at the prospect of getting to walk so close to me. As we neared, I finally said a gentle, "Hello." They both let out a spontaneous, thrilled scream and ran away. It was as though they had just been accosted by the most famous and attractive man they had ever seen. For that brief moment in time, I was Brad Pitt...
1) Once while walking down a narrow alley on my way home, a small boy stood in my way. He saw me walking toward him and froze. I think he was terrified. As I neared, I kept expecting him to pull the usual terror-stricken bolt--away from me. But a change came over his face, and he stood his ground. As I approached, I began to feel his curiosity very strongly--it bore into me with a strange, expectant feeling. I became convinced I couldn't simply pass without a word, so I said the first thing that came to my mind: "Watashi wa gaijin desu." That means, "I am a foreigner." Of all the banalities in the world at my disposal, of all the comments in the world to make to someone, I choose to put into words the one thought that was, above anything else in the cosmos, absolutely foremost in his little mind--this is a foreigner. But I like to think that about forty years from now, Japan will have itself one of the world's preeminent anthropologists, a dazzlingly brilliant man who got his start at the seminal moment that I, the whitest, strangest, scariest human being he had ever seen in his young life, took the time to point out that I am, indeed, a foreigner.
I've left several off, but maybe I can continue this some other time. I hope you enjoy reading about my life here half as much as I am enjoying living it. God bless
Ahem...
5) One night, I was riding my bike through a popular park in Mito and went down a dark alley. Before I could process what was happening, I found myself flying over my handlebars and through the air in perfect Peter-Pan-formation. I then landed squarely on my chest and chin, but was completely uninjured. When I got up and realized what had happened, I laughed my head off: I had run my front tire smack-dab into a short but sturdy concrete roadblock, which was completely dislodged from the ground.
4) My first or second week at school (during the summer), my teachers indicated that one teacher would go to a grocery store to get food. I tried to tell her I wanted beef curry, but somehow failed abysmally, despite half an hour of whole-hearted effort on both sides. So they made me go with her. We made the trip with little dialogue exchanged and no hitches, but upon returning to our teacher's room, the Japanese teacher who had escorted me boisterously announced my lunch choice: Beef and curry! And they absolutely laughed their heads off. The whole room erupted with laughter. "The gaijin just wanted beef curry?! Are you joking me?!" Something about it all was apparently unbearably funny. Welcome to Japan.
3) Passing my elementary's schoolchildren everyday as I walk to work, who despite having seen me nearly everyday for the last four months, still giggle, and shuffle, and point as if I were a rock star.
2) I stopped at a traffic light. Two little girls were on bikes across the way. I noticed them staring at me. As we finally crossed the street, they were noticeably getting excited at the prospect of getting to walk so close to me. As we neared, I finally said a gentle, "Hello." They both let out a spontaneous, thrilled scream and ran away. It was as though they had just been accosted by the most famous and attractive man they had ever seen. For that brief moment in time, I was Brad Pitt...
1) Once while walking down a narrow alley on my way home, a small boy stood in my way. He saw me walking toward him and froze. I think he was terrified. As I neared, I kept expecting him to pull the usual terror-stricken bolt--away from me. But a change came over his face, and he stood his ground. As I approached, I began to feel his curiosity very strongly--it bore into me with a strange, expectant feeling. I became convinced I couldn't simply pass without a word, so I said the first thing that came to my mind: "Watashi wa gaijin desu." That means, "I am a foreigner." Of all the banalities in the world at my disposal, of all the comments in the world to make to someone, I choose to put into words the one thought that was, above anything else in the cosmos, absolutely foremost in his little mind--this is a foreigner. But I like to think that about forty years from now, Japan will have itself one of the world's preeminent anthropologists, a dazzlingly brilliant man who got his start at the seminal moment that I, the whitest, strangest, scariest human being he had ever seen in his young life, took the time to point out that I am, indeed, a foreigner.
I've left several off, but maybe I can continue this some other time. I hope you enjoy reading about my life here half as much as I am enjoying living it. God bless
posted by Peter Rice at 6:42 AM
1 Comments:
Oh Peter-san,
Even though I'd already heard about most of these stories, they still cracked me up to read them again. My favorite is definitely you telling the kid that you are a gaijin. :) Very universal for foreigners living in Japan. Good idea to write these moments down... wouldn't want to forget them.
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