Japan is truly a weird place. Especially if you come from a place like Montreal. France was weird, but I got through that. What, I have to kiss and hug a total stranger? What ever happened to a handshake?
But in Japan, no one touches anyone. Not even a handshake. Not even between relatives. Just a bow.
Gotta admit it's sanitary, but . . . hey, isn't there some happy medium?
But another thing about Japan is that you can't say "I love you." There is no "Sweetheart", "Sweetie", "Darling", no NOTHING. There is SIMPLY NO EQUIVALENT.
Yeah, yeah yeah, there IS a way to say "I love you" but no one says it. Trust me, absolutely no one says it. (In case you were wondering, it's "ai-shiteru.")
Husbands come home from work but don't kiss their wives. They never kiss their wives unless they're rutting like crazed weasels. NO ONE KISSES ANYONE in Japan unless they're in the heated throes of passion.
I was fired from a job when I worked in Japan simply for touching a girl's hair and remarking how beautiful it was. Fired. FIRED. No one touches anyone in Japan unless absolutely necessary.
What a sterile, militaristic environment it is. Can you imagine not being able to call someone "Sweetheart"? THERE IS NO EQUIVALENT in Japanese. Not even close. Can you imagine going through life not being able to call your lover "darling?" That's what it's like in Japan.
I hate the French.
But I hate the Japanese more.
Damn, that sounds pretty bleak.
ReplyDeleteYes, in many ways it's a very sorry society. A society in which they've had to create separate train carriages just for women because of the armies -- sometimes actually organised -- of men who fondle them.
ReplyDeleteI swear I couldn't stand Japan after five years and now when I go there to pick up my son I just want to stay in a hotel the whole time, turn around and get the hell out.
No kimonos, geishas or temples for me any more, ever again.
Though I might take Brigitte one day. And stay in the hotel room while she sightsees.