Junchan

Posted on 2006/04/08 13:07:58 (April 2006).

[Saturday 8th April]
Had a very nice day out with Chie and our friend Junchan, which was punctuated (but I'd like to point out not spoiled) by some rather unpleasant behaviour.

Junchan was in Tokyo for the weekend to see some friends on Saturday night, but had arrived around midday so she could spend the afternoon with me and Chie first. So, after coming to our apartment to drop off our bags, we headed over to Shinjuku for lunch.

On the way between the station and an Indian restaurant we like, we walked past a campaigner for some kind of Japanese right wing party, complete with the imperialist Japanese flag and everthing. To my surprise, the guy with the loudspeaker came out with "gaikokujin ga warui" - quite blatantly "foreigners are bad!". I turned to the guy and smiled, as if to say, "err, hello, I'm here and I can understand you", which then led to him to say "waratenai" over the loudspeaker (meaning "don't smile"). Looking back it seems a little comical really, and of course there is always the chance that it was just a misunderstanding. Despite being in a very crowded place most people seemed to completely ignore this guy droning on about the woes of liberal governments and so on - even Chie didn't notice what he was saying. Ho, hum.

So we had lunch in this Indian place, which I thought was pretty good as always. Whilst we were there, an American guy and a Japanese woman came in. To start with the American guy seemed very civilised - he was speaking very good Japanese, and as far as I could understand it was something about architecture. So anyway, there appeared to be something wrong with his curry - I think they'd made it too hot. So he quite politely asked (in Japanese) for them to make it again. When he tasted the replacement however, there was a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde thing, and he suddenly seemed to go from the mild mannered intellectual type I'd pegged him as to a rather angry individual, somewhat reminiscent of the film Falling Down. I believe his exact words were: "What have you done to it? This tastes like shit!", which he repeated several times with a tone and volume that ensured everyone else in the restaurant was aware of his discontent. What made it slightly more amusing was the dissatisfied customer adding on "Do you want me to come here again?", to which I couldn't help but wonder if the staff were thinking "Actually, no.".

On my way out I thought to myself, oh well, at least we've been nice polite and easygoing customers. Then a while after leaving I checked my receipt and noticed they'd added two random items to our bill. I couldn't help but wonder if they'd decided we ought to subsidise the rather loud and displeased customer, who probably wasn't going to pay at all. I can't say I'm that bothered really, the spurious items only amounted to a couple of quid, and if that helps re-align the ying and yang of the universe a bit then it's money well spent!

Anyway, I didn't let any of this unpleasant behaviour spoil what was otherwise a very nice day out! After leaving Shinjuku, we headed over to Iidabashi, because there was a bookshop specialising in French books there that the girls wanted to visit. The river there is lined with sakura trees, and although the cherry blossom in Tokyo is coming to an end now, it still looked very picturesque. So we spent a couple of hours having a vague wander around the area, chatting as we went, which was just lovely.

Junchan headed off around 6 to go see her other friends, leaving Chie and me to do a spot of shopping then head home for dinner. Both of us wanted to eat very simple food - I made a sort of cheese and potato bake, and Chie just had miso soup and rice, then we both had a bit of each other's.

That thing with that right wing Japanese guy reminds me of an altercation I had with an old man in Siena. I was walking about the streets of the centro storico when the old man, a fascist of the old school, said aloud: "fuori gli stranieri!", i.e. "Foreigners out"! I stopped, walked back, looked at him and replied: "Sono qui perche amo la sua lingua. Amo la cultura italiana, perche io, io non sono un grossolano ignorante come lei che sa appena leggere e scrivere il suo nome"! Meaning: "I'm here because I love your language! I love the Italian culture! I'm not like you, a rude ignorant man who can barely read and write his name!"

Posted by Sheri at 2006/04/08 13:32:33.

Lox, have I already told you that episode?

Posted by Sheri at 2006/04/08 13:45:26.

Sheri: Actually not... I would like to hear more though, it seems a good way to start a fight with a fascist pig in Siena! :) WAY TO GO!!!

John: It seems like you have just had a very good day, although I probably would have complaines about the 2 quid surcharge for the "gaijin extra show" ... Only one thing escapes me, did he say those things in english or in japanese?
As for the right wing party thing... you could have shown him the finger at least!

Posted by Lox at 2006/04/08 15:53:07.

Though it sounds like "damning with faint praise", it's not meant to when I say - John: you're a nice, decent man.

I know *my* feathers would have been rather ruffled by all that... :)

Posted by Nigel at 2006/04/08 17:39:13.

Lox - the bits he shouted were all in English - i.e. this tastes like shit, etc.

Let's hope the Indian gentlemen only understood Hindi and Japanese!

Posted by John at 2006/04/09 03:56:33.

Lox. Nothing happened next. He looked at me more ashamed (or scared) than annoyed, and I left.

Posted by Sheri at 2006/04/09 06:46:28.

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