Friday, April 16, 2010

Convenient Friends

In my town, I probably visit my local Lawson convenient store more than any other establishment. This is for many reasons. My town doesn't have many places and Lawson is about a one minute walk from my apartment and offers snacks, drinks and even things resembling dinner. Needless to say, I probably go there on average about five times a week.

Last week I made a comment to one of the workers there, because it was a nice day, so I said in Japanese, "Today's weather is nice isn't it?" Although I have seen this woman every week, I never talked to her. After mentioning this she started to ask me some questions and I learned that she has been to Los Angeles.

Then yesterday while I was stopping in to pick up some dinner, I made a new friend. I did my regular thing and left Lawson and suddenly a woman, different than the one I talked to before, came running out of the Lawson chasing me down. At first I thought I forgot something.

Then she yells out in Japanese, "Wait! Please be my friend!" I would have to have been one hell of a heartless bastard to say, "No." She is probably about 30 years old give or take a few years (actually I can't judge Japanese age very well), but it was really cute to see her run out of a store, where she works, so that she could ask me to be her friend. I honestly thought I would never see anything like this in my life, especially in Japan by an adult. She proceeded to explain to me in Japanese that she was going to San Francisco in a couple months and would like me to teach her some English and asked if I wanted to get dinner sometime. I asked her name and we exchanged phone numbers.

Honestly this made my day since it was just so unexpected and although I am used to friendly Japanese people, it is rare for them to take an actual interest in a foreigner where they initiate a friendship. However, recently it seems my luck is changing. Either I am becoming less foreign to Japanese people (which I doubt) or like I said, my luck is changing to bring these people into my life!

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