The Conversation (Part 1)

One thing about being Asian, you learn pretty quickly questions are "sensitive". This habit of detecting things that "should not be asked" in everyday conversation is common in China, Japan, Taiwan and Korea ... but not so much so in the US.

For example, this week I was back in Sapporo finishing up a project. The company I'm working for has a lot of Taiwanese and a few Americans (like me).

As I was going to the airport, a Taiwanese co-worker Jimmy walks me to the door.

“謝謝你來John。 [Thanks for coming, John]” said Jimmy as we walk thru the office.

“沒問題，希望下次來的時候可以再跟你見面。 你會在北海道待多久啊 [No problem. I hope we can meet again. How long are you staying in Hokkaido]?” I replied back.

Jimmy hesitated a second before answering.

”...我應該下禮拜要回台。。。 [I should be going back to Taiwan next week.]“ he replied to me.

"喔. 是回去放假嗎 [Going back for vacation]？" I asked.

He looked down and there was a bit of a pause before he answered.

"不是。。那裡有點事情要處理。。 [No, there's some stuff that I need to take care of over there ...]"

His manner of answering the question (hesitation, looking down, etc) all point to the fact that this is a sensitive topic. He is basically telling from his mannerisms that he is going back to Taiwan DUE TO SOMETHING THAT'S NOT SO GOOD, and that I should stop asking...

“了解。。。 好吧。那好好保重身體 [I understand ... well take care of yourself]"

(Now because of the context, I CAN'T SAY HAVE A GOOD TIME IN TAIWAN ... the only thing that's acceptable here is something generic like "See you", "BYE" or what I said above.)

We are pretty much silent for a few seconds as we walk until we see another coworker, Alan who is American. Alan gets up from his desk and starts walking with us.

"Hey John, thanks for coming!" said Alan.

"No problem. Thanks for having me over." I replied back.

"So Jimmy, you got plans for the weekend?" asked Alan.

"I think I will just get ready for my trip to Taipei." Jimmy replied.

"Oh you're going to Taipei. Back for vacation?" asked Alan.

Oh no ... I thought to myself ... this is going to be painful...

When we look up the word GAIJIN in the dictionary, there should be a picture of this guy Alan next to the term. He's lived in Japan for 10 years and speaks like 2 words Japanese... he'll speak to shop people with full speed English, and when they say they don't understand him, he won't slow down his speech ... instead he'll just talk louder ... also he still thinks in terms of dollars for everything here. (e.g. when he see an item of 1000 Yen he just says it's $10 USD).

"No, just going back to take care of some stuff..." Jimmy replied.

"Oh family stuff? Something happen with your family, did someone die or get sick?..." asked Alan.

I roll my eyes in disbelief ...