damian 0 Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 I tossed up if I should post this or not, obviously decided to do so. The idea is NOT to stir up nasty comments, more so to know if anyone has ever seen anything like it (in any country). We thought it was pretty funny to be honest. Ok, so here is the situation: Was out for a beer with fellow eminent Australian and SJ member, woywoy. It was a what ever kind of night of taking it easy over a bunch of beers and talking like respectable decent Australians do. Anyway, it was only ever going to be an early night so we hit the trains to go home. Keep in mind that both he and I are decent minded people, not aggro loud mouths out to cause trouble. We were on the crowded 11.30pm train and gooning around a bit as we were a little drunk, but not shit faced or anything close. Just a bit pissed, nothing more. We were having a laugh at an old salary man that was standing whilst sleeping and talking / grunting to himself. A couple of other things on the train gave us some entertainment as well. In general we were chattering away and no doubt were quite a bit louder than everyone else on the carriage. Then this young guy turns to us and tells us to stop sweaing at people. Huh? He said we were using the F word far too much and that it was for the most directed at other people on the train. HUH??!! Woywow explained to him in Japanese that we meant no harm, our "swearing' was directed at no one and that F is used to add emphasis to words and emotions, rather than be offensive. Fair enough, Japanese people do not "swear' and this guy let us know it. I don't take much very seriously and I think at some stage with a very big grin on my face I said something like "I am not f-iung swearing. F-off'. Not loud, just between woywoy and myself and letting this guy hear me. Seldom am I very mature, especially when there is a chance to be a harmless larrikin. But we certainly were no worse than this. At the end of the day, like I said, most Japanese don't like swearing, ultimately this wins out, and so it should. [this is turning into way more typing than I intended, just trying to get across the impression that we were not being aggro idiots] Anyway, the Japanese guy starts at us on a whole new level: “get out of our country” “go home” ”leave Japan” “get out of my country” etc etc After he started like this, I didn't care much what I said to him, so I “said a little” in return. He then started saying “What country are you in? THIS IS JAPAN! SPEAK JAPANESE”. So I said ok, explained that it would be very difficult but I would try. I then started to speak to him with the Japanese language skill level of a 2 year old, but I tried. He then starts mocking and imitating my very bad language skills. I kept trying and he kept laughing and mocking. I eventually rattled off a sentence that in terms of grammar and vocab, made perfect sense. He then tells me in English that he couldn't understand what I was saying. So asked him the same question a few more times and he kept saying, with a screwed up face, that he couldn't understand me. It was so bloody obvious that he could understand me that he had lost all credibility. Woywoy was talking to him in what I saw to be very fluent Japanese but he didn't like that so he kept yelling at me “THIS IS JAPAN, SPEAK JAPANESE, GET OUT OF OUR COUNTRY!!”. All the time trying to look as tough and scary as he could (which he wasn't). I told him that unless he was getting off at the next stop (my stop) I wasn't interested in anything he had to say. In the end I called him a scared little boy and told him I was turning my back on hi, which I did. Woywoy had also said a ton of stuff to him in Japanese and nothing was helping. Then our stop came up and we got off. He jumps off the train and tried to get his mates to get off as well. They didn't, the train took off and he was left standing on the platform at midnight trying to argue about the F-word and telling us over and over to leave his country etc etc. We just walked off on him leaving to stand and yell after us as the platform guard held him back. The clincher was his parting lines. He starts yelling at us “F-off, F-you, F-off!!!!”. Rather ironic. I admit that in the height of his raving about speaking Japanese and his laughing at my attempts to do so and his ordering us out of the country, I did get moved to egg him on a little with some smart assed calls designed to rub salt into his childish emotions. They seemed to go right over his head, so I cant even claim that we/I made the situation worse. Never have I ever seen such a performance, in Australia or Japan. This guy was only about 25 yrs old and seemed just like any other every day Japanese guy, just way more grumpy. Link to post Share on other sites
Markie 0 Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 Great story, .db.. The nice J-chap obviously feels the same way about you as I did when we first met. The main difference is that you didn't grace him with a good hard one in the mouth as you did me. I guess you didn't think he was such a nice guy and didn't deserve it. However, I do suggest that in the future, you treat the locals with the same courtesy you showed me. I am sure that it will set them straight like it did me and Tokyo will be surely be a better place as a result of it. Link to post Share on other sites
indosnm 0 Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 i am suprised you didn't give him one! Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 Bad BAD marsupials! People like that are funny. It's only human nature to goad them on to the further stupidity. Link to post Share on other sites
Dims 0 Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 Must be that voice of yours deebs, enough to give anyone the irrits Link to post Share on other sites
danz 0 Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 db...Im shocked! you, of all people, I expect to be very diplomatic and respectful you could have fired some firecrackers at him...that would have made a much better impression danz Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted December 9, 2003 Author Share Posted December 9, 2003 Dims - It was lovely to cross your path yesterday evening as well mate. (Dims picked me out of the streaming crowd at Omotesando based purely on the sound of my voice). It was quite amusing as I was walking past and only by chance did our paths come within hearing distance. The ironic thing was I was in the middle of talking about how someone elses voice sounded distinct. Link to post Share on other sites
Siren 0 Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 Amazing story. They should chain you to your house and not let you go anywhere, db. Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 I once met a Malaysian geek in a bar who had the view that White People were scum and that Noble Asians shouldn't have anything to do with them. He proudly announced that his parents said he could marry a Japanese girl if he wanted to, but not a corrupt white slut. I had some fun with him. Link to post Share on other sites
Siren 0 Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 I must go out more often - I simply don't run into interesting people like that! Link to post Share on other sites
rach 1 Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 Bizarre. I was on the train today actually and this really nerdy otaku smelly guy came up to me with his friend talking REALLY REALLY LOUD and saying why the f they need to announce things in English in the trains blah blah. He was really smelly. Link to post Share on other sites
sweetaz 0 Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 funny...a similar incident happened to me in Sydney...but it was a particualarly bitter Abo that was agro! Link to post Share on other sites
Siren 0 Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 You made that up Sweet. Link to post Share on other sites
sweetaz 0 Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 nup! nah really....15 mins after we saw some Abo with a baseball bat chase a woman with a pram down the street another guy harrassed us as we came out of a book shop...telling us to go home ....and when we didn't leave fast enuff he chased us for a block! But....it wasn't the best part of town....so i've now learnt! (Redfern??) Link to post Share on other sites
klingon 10 Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 What a fool! I have never been up against someone like that. Link to post Share on other sites
Siren 0 Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 What is being chased a few blocks when you stole their country? Link to post Share on other sites
mogski 0 Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 Ahhh the famed Little Emperor Syndrome. You guys should've kept him gogin until the last train stopped. The you can get home, but he must boil on his stupidity all night while he either waits for the forst mornign train or catches a taxi home. This would've been a perfect ending to a great night. Link to post Share on other sites
woywoy 0 Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 I could not believe it either. It was certainly an eye-opener but I hope I am never in that situation again. I can say that I have never come up against such blatant racism and ignorance in my life. The guy was a complete goose but hitting him would have made us the villains in the piece. That is why we decided to leave the idiot on the platform restrained by the lovely plump platform attendant. I am sure the guy would have loved that to end his night. Lets hope that none of use experience this sort of thing again. Thats it. Link to post Share on other sites
scouser 4 Posted December 11, 2003 Share Posted December 11, 2003 Good memories though, hey? I've met a few clowns like that before on the train, usually just ignore them and let them embarrass themselves. Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted December 11, 2003 Share Posted December 11, 2003 db did you pop markie? I had a guy once yell at me to "get out" while walking through Kyoto station in the morning. That put me in a bad mood for the day. Another time I tried to get in the middle of an argument between an Auzzie bloke on crutches who bump a rather drunk Japanese guy. The Japanese guy wanted to fight this guy. The auzzie dude was on vacation just visiting Kyoto to see the sites, plus on crutches. We were at one of those places open all night for people to drink whilst waiting for the first train. Also this place is also always 40% non-Japanese, so my thinking is the Japanese dude wanted to fight. In the end I was bounced around like a pinball no punches thrown but my sandals broke and I had to stumble home with strapping around my sandal. No matter where you go there are idiots, the good point to the story db is the idiots friends wanted nothing to with the ending at least. Link to post Share on other sites
Markie 0 Posted December 11, 2003 Share Posted December 11, 2003 What are friends for? He gave me a good one, set me straight and I am grateful to him for it. Now we a good mates. Nothing serious, it took less than a week for the swelling to subside. Link to post Share on other sites
Siren 0 Posted December 11, 2003 Share Posted December 11, 2003 You were wearing a pair of 下駄(wooden clogs)? Crazy Canadian. Link to post Share on other sites
xxx 2 Posted December 11, 2003 Share Posted December 11, 2003 There's always a few of those idiots on late night trains I find. They seem to think they're being real hard. Usually they are just the opposite, this is their only chance to be "hard". Fools. Link to post Share on other sites
miteyak 0 Posted December 11, 2003 Share Posted December 11, 2003 Quote: Originally posted by woywoy: I can say that I have never come up against such blatant racism and ignorance in my life. You must be a white boy... Only once have I been verbally attacked for being a foreigner, once in seven years, and that was by a homeless man gving me the job stealing spiel. It's pretty crappy when it happens, but compared to the Indian or Chinese restaurant owners in my hometown, who get abused by their customers once every seven minutes, it's pretty tame. (I have a feeling they get their revenge in full, however)... Link to post Share on other sites
Davo 1 Posted December 11, 2003 Share Posted December 11, 2003 What a geek. Reminds me of the time an architypal mid-fifties, drunk, smelly salaryman eyeballed me on the train and started telling me I was a baka etc in Japanese. I got right in his face insulting him back loudly in Japanese and then English when that had no effect. Really made me angry cause he was just a racist out to insult me for no reason. He was also too old to get the slapping he most surely deserved. Perhaps that's a good thing because of course I would be in the wrong had I hit him. Now this guy you met spoke English, and although he should mind his own business it's worth remembering that a lot of Japanese on the train can understand what you are talking about. Link to post Share on other sites
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