Friendly People
Yesterday when I got on the Ginza line go to home, two foreign men sat down on either side of me. They introduced themselves as Tim. There were 3 Tims, all on the same bench on the train on the way home. They were vacationers, and they were terribly friendly and inquired about my life in Japan.
It turns out that the older fellow, who looked about 50, said that he was from New York and grew up in occupied Japan. He said that he lived in Washington park (Now Yoyogi), Azabu, and Meguro during his 5-year stay. The other guy was German, and he looked like he had jetlag because he was falling asleep. We had a nice chat about what it was like to grow up in occupied Japan, and he had questions about what it’s like to work at a Japanese company and live with a Japanese wife.
When I got home and told the story to my wife, she reacted negatively. She doesn’t like the idea of talking to strangers. What’s so bad about talking to strangers? I wonder if my wife will meet Japanese people in public and talk to them when she’s in America.
Filed under: women | 2 Comments
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That fascinates me. Was she irritated because you started the conversation with some unknown people or just by the fact that you had it (regardless of who started the conversation)? Would it have been different if they were Japanese people? I wonder what my wife would say if I came back with the same story… (I’ve definitely done the same thing many times before)
I think she was irritated that somebody started a conversation with me. After thinking about it and observing her react to being approached by a Chinese woman for directions, I think she’s just nervous around strangers and was imagining the discomfort she would feel if she were in the same situation.