May 2007

Everybody knows the story of a blond girl making a safari in Africa in the middle of nowhere and when native people see her they want to touch her hair, etc... right?
Well I can understand that this happens in some faraway country where they don't know about TV and internet.
But can you believe that this kind of situation happens to me so often in second biggest city of a economical leading country like Japan. Ok, Toyonaka is in the outskirt of Osaka but still has 400'000 habitants.
I just gonna tel you the best story that happened this week.
I went to the park with my coworker for lunch as we do almost every day.
But this time there is some kind of elementary school excursion and there are about hundred kinds, all wearing the same red hat, crawling around further away from us. Suddenly three or four of them are running around us and at the very moment the girls see me they slow down, their facial expression radically changes. The one girl completely froze and is staring at me. She really can't get her eyes away, her mouth open. I could just read in their eyes what was going on in her intrigued head:
"Ooh, that's on of those "foreigners".... I've seen a couple of the on TV but I didn't know they really do exist...!"
As she could breath again she said, as she learned during English classes: -"HELLO... "
-"konnichiwa..." did I reply in Japanese.
-"Bla bla bla..." ( I didn't understand that one...sorry)
-"O namae wa nan desu ka?" I asked for her name.
-She answers hiding her name tag on her T-shirt: "I don't talk to strangers!!" and ran away as fast as her feet could carry her.
- Well, honey it seems to me that you started the conversation, didn't you...?

As we were still laughing and trying to understand this funny situation, she comes back towing her teacher by the hand. She's pointing at me and says to her teacher something like: "see, I told you there was one..."

Can you believe that?
I think it is really difficult to interpret those kind of situations. Ok, Japan is an island but still...

Was not that girl but I thought you might like a picture...

It is quite amazing how highly adaptable the human body is. He always finds an alternative when there is a lack of something. For example a blind person will have the four other senses very developed, especially the hearing.
Being illiterate is actually the same and quite easy. I heard of this French guy who lives in Japan since over six years and doesn't speak Japanese.
The eyes are very foxy and lazy at the same time. If there is something written in Japanese and in English it is a hard work obliging the eye to read the more difficult signs. They can find so many information that you would not see or in "normal" circumstances. They can make relations between colors, shapes and former experiences. Scanning pictures and labels on products and food. It becomes so proficient that I catch myself not reading things that I actually could.
It somehow reminds me of being an kid and just watching the images and never reading the texts in comics. hee hee...
Even though this whole story is not lethal I just feel like missing/losing an incredible amount of knowledge that is close and very far at the same time.
I don't need to show you a picture to let you imagine how delightful (design-wise and taste-wise) a Japanese cookbook can be.
Of course I bought one. But I cannot read it...
Just think of me, the cookbook in one hand and the basket in the other ambulating through the food store compeering what's on the image and what' on the shelves.
"...could that be that sauce... no tha'one looks a little darker... Oh, and this looks like ground meat... yeah, must be it: the kanjis look the same..."
There are a bunch of situations in which if feel quite dumb.

Well I guess this sounds not that exiting for you but, but maybe someday you'll experience it... or maybe just try tomorrow not to read when you got to the ATM or grocery shopping