My Friend

I went to Asakusa today just to check it out. When I got there I read in my guidebook that Asahi has a bar (as it turns out, it's not just a bar, you can get other food there) at the top of a building just across the Sumida River from the subway station. Having been to the Guinness factory with it's bar at the top, I figured this place probably offered a great view.

Now, you have to order something to be able to get in to see the view. There were also a few other restaurants on the same floor. It was the 22nd floor and for most of Tokyo that's pretty high, high enough that you can see quick a bit, except that today was hazy.

Basically, the view has nothing to do with this story anyway. I sit down in an empty seat in the corner and get settled in to enjoy the view. I get my drink, everything is going fine. I'm taking some pictures. So I'm about half way done my drink when a guy sits down next to me. This isn't odd, it was an empty seat and this is Tokyo. Their definition of personal space is worlds away from our definition in America. There are just too many people around for anyone to bother caring how close they are to you. It's pretty normal to get bumped into in line at the store by the person behind you.

Back to me sitting there and this guy sitting there. I don't know how it all started. I think I was taking some pictures, when this guy decides to start talking to me. I'm a friendly person, I don't mind a random conversation with a stranger. Of course, when the two people involved in the conversation don't speak the same language things get a bit hairy. I know a tiny bit of Japanese and I think I used all of it today with this guy.

From what I gathered from my broken Japanese and his broken English. He was from southern Japan and had flown into Haneda airport that day. He seemed to be sightseeing as well, which I think is what made him decide to talk to me since I had a camera. So he rambled on for quite a while, some of which I followed, most of which I had no idea but I nodded politely. He asked me if I had been to the big temple they have in Asakusa and I in my confusion said that I had been there, despite the fact that I hadn't. We continued on for quite some time. He asked where I was from and I said America. His first reaction to that was "Red Sox". It took a bit of work, but I finally told him I was from south of New York, though he may think I'm from south New York. I had a phrasebook with me, but I could only get the word for south.

The phrasebook became quite a conversation piece though because as soon as I pulled it out. I had wanted to a to ask him if I could take his picture. I was hoping the phrase book would provide the words I needed. Instead, it became English practice time. He looked through the book and read the English to me, sort of showing off that he could read English. We went through how to rent a car, some desserts, and a few other parts of the book, before I regained possession of it and put it away. We then talked about what time it was and how to say it both in English and Japanese. We went through the months. It is in fact July, the 7th month. The 20th day of that month and so on. It was interesting, but my patience was wearing. Then he pulled out his A game. He began talking about movies, which really only consisted of him saying John Wayne's name and pretending to have two pistols in his hands. He then repeated the same motion after saying Steve McQueen. Then we moved on to a brief talk about Tokyo being the capital (I think, because he mentioned the emperor.) This led us to Washington and to President Johnson, then Kennedy, then Clinton, then Bush. Nothing really being said here that I understood other than their names. He also could have been talking about Bill or Hillary, I have no idea. We got in some topical conversation when he brought up Obama (again, I have no idea what, if anything, was said besides the name).

At this point, my patience had run out. I didn't want to be rude to him, but I didn't want to stay there any longer. I gathered my things and said I had to go. He then said, "Good bye" and "have a nice day" which served as final flourishes to our meeting. I returned my best "Sayonara" and left as quickly as possible so as to avoid further conversation.

I decided to head to the bathroom before I left since the building was rather nice and I figured had a nice bathroom. I was not disappointed. On my way out however, I noticed that my friend was about to leave as well, so I decided to take another tour of the bathroom. I'm glad I did because not only did it save me from talking with him more, but it also lead me to the most advanced toilet I've seen yet. Not only did this have a bidet with 3 settings (I've since deciphered that one is really only for women) but it also had a blow dryer option. Yes, that's right, you can have a nice warm stream of air blown directly across your bottom to dry it off after you use the bidet. Oh Japan, how I marvel at your technology.