The benefits of being gaijin

[cstaylor]

Plain Jane's perfect life a less-than-perfect lie

I left a folded baby stroller at my feet on a nearly deserted train in the middle of the day. There was plenty of room to walk past, but this girl who walked by suddenly turned back at me, pointed at the stroller and screamed, 'Why did you bring this thing onto the train?'" the mother says. "And she was deadly serious."

Ahhh... the nice thing about being a foreigner is that no one expects you to understand Japanese, so no one yells at me when I forget to take off my backpack in the train. On busy days I must bruise at least two or three faces.

[kamome]

You should see kamome chowing down on a deluxe bento or a big juicy MOS Burger on the train...it's a sight to behold.

Hey, ultra, when did you get into the business of disseminating misinformation??? Actually, more distracting than food or backpacks on the trains is the gyaru putting on their makeup. I can't believe how they pack that stuff on like a construction site with all their tools, brushes, liners, glosses, etc.

[cstaylor]

gyaru putting on their makeup. I can't believe how they pack that stuff on like a construction site with all their tools, brushes, liners, glosses, etc.

Why don't you just tell them that you like your gyaru "a-la carte"?

[cstaylor]

Actually, more distracting than food or backpacks on the trains is the gyaru putting on their makeup. I can't believe how they pack that stuff on like a construction site with all their tools, brushes, liners, glosses, etc.

I don't know how many times I've seen ojisan pundits say the exact same thing on Japanese TV. (The assimilation continues...)

I guess it would depend on the definition of "distracting". If we mean, "wow, that gyaru is hot!", then I agree with Kamome. However, if we mean "that's awful" distracting, then yeah, someone needs a month-long Japan detox somewhere in the bowels of New York City.

[kamome]

guess it would depend on the definition of "distracting". If we mean, "wow, that gyaru is hot!", then I agree with Kamome. However, if we mean "that's awful" distracting, then yeah, someone needs a month-long Japan detox somewhere in the bowels of New York City.

I'm more in the "wow that girl is hot" camp than in the "that's awful" camp. So I'm not quite a Borg just yet. The oyaji's complain about the makeup thing because they think it's bad manners. I just think that it's more eyecatching than just eating on the train.

[kamome]

Maybe if you're eating a Mos Burger on the train (which I have never done). Eating cold foods aren't so "nosecatching", but even if it were, so what? As long as I'm not sniffing heavy garlic, it's not a big deal. The Japanese are just too anal about mundane details. I also don't think it's a big deal for people to talk on trains, either to each other or on their cellphones.