The Occidental Tourist

28 June 2003, 03:22

One of my pet hates about living in Japan, is other foreigners.

I don’t mean the foreigners that come to Japan for work, study or travel who have a genuine interest in Japan and the culture, but those annoying, brash, arrogant sons of bitches who show up in the country armed with a fistful of money and the attitude that they don’t need to respect the language and culture of the country they’re in because they are paying customers. The ones that give the rest of the foreigners in Japan a bad. bad. name.

I stood behind a couple of these latter types today in Doutor Coffee (mental note not to frequent coffee shops located in international hotels). They stood at the counter heatedly demanding all kinds of things at the top of their voices in English, in spite of the attendant clearly not being able to understand a word. The couple were beginning to get frustrated with the attendant’s lack of English skills before her manager finally worked out what the she-banshee side of the duo wanted. The couple huffed “Thank you!” before taking their coffees to the table.

HOW HARD IS IT TO PULL OUT AN ARIGATOU OR A SUMIMASEN, PEOPLE?

I was close to intervening before bloodshed ensued, but honestly, I was far too embarassed. Now, this is an extreme case, and I don’t see displays like this often, but when I do it makes me sympathise with the Japanese who think we’re a mob of rude, boorish farmyard animals (now the good ol’ Japanese do tend to generalise negatively about foreigners based on some trifling experiences, but that is another story…). What killed me was that the attendant and her manager, stood there bowing humbly and apologising (in Japanese) to these ignorant asses.

When I first arrived in Japan I didn’t speak much Japanese, but (and wait for the sun to explode out of my arse) I made an effort and had the good grace to be chagrined if there were communication problems, not the other way around.

After living here for awhile and getting to know the Japanese way of doing things and treating people, it is troubling when you witness this kind of vulgar scene at a cafe or wherever, and the attendants then turn to you and try to communicate in fragmented English, because they assume you are going to be as uncompromising.

Even if you don’t have the brainspace to learn a few simple words that will get you through most situations (and we’re talking about a handful of simple phrases), at least be humble about your lack of Japanese skills.

A little bit of humility goes a long way in Japan…

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