Gaijin in Japan: Today, I Frightened a Japanese Person
I’m going to start off this story that I do feel a little bad that I brought out such a reaction from the girl. It wasn’t her fault in the least, and so she really didn’t deserve any kind of negative attention. She just happened to be a sort of scapegoat for my hanger at the time.
Today, my friend and I were supposed to eat lunch at a themed cafe in Osaka. Now, this cafe is a limited time event happening at the Animate Cafe, which changes themes every few months, and thus, we had to make a reservation in advance, and we did... well, actually my friend’s boyfriend did, which is where the problem came in.
Apparently, on the website where the reservation was made, it was necessary for the person using the website to make an account, which my friend’s boyfriend did- in his name. Now, you wouldn’t think this would be a problem, right? I wouldn’t. Unfortunately, it was.
The reservation we made online required that we afterwards print a ticket at the convenience store and each pay a ￥2000 (about $20) entrance fee. This was relatively easy and painless, and my friend and I both paid what we needed to pay by the time the website indicated. Then, the day we were actually supposed to eat at the cafe came to be. It turns out that on the ticket was my friend’s boyfriend’s name because it was his account that was used to make the reservation. Now, usually in America if something like this comes up, as long as the person who’s name is on the ticket gives his or her approval, the management of the establishment will give an okay as well, but this is Japan.
My friend, who was practically dying to go to this cafe, had her boyfriend come all the way back to the cafe after he had already left after dropping her off, but the people there still wouldn’t let us in right away. So we waited. And waited. Until, finally one of the waitresses more high up in the management chain came over... and promptly told us that my friend’s boyfriend and one other person could go in.
This is where I got angry.
My friend was nearly in tears. She desperately wanted to go to this cafe. Her boyfriend did not. I traveled all the way to Osaka by myself to go to this cafe with her (as she was already in Osaka at the time), so I was going in. I was hungry, I was tired, and I was hot.
After my friend tried and tried again to reason with the staff (in Japanese, by the way), I stepped in. I should probably mention this, too. I don’t like speaking in Japanese with people I don’t know. I’m very shy, and so I often get nervous when I try to speak with unfamiliar people. But I was not having it.
The entire time my friend was speaking with them, I was already fiercely glaring at the ladies who worked there, so my input at that point was taken quite hesitantly. In Japanese culture, the amount of eye contact in comparison to that in American culture is a little different. People still make eye contact, but not quite as much as in the United States, so the fact that I would not look away and the fact that I looked quite angry was probably extremely noticeable to them.
After I tried one last time to explain that it was my friend and I who paid for the tickets and still got a negative response, that is when I asked if their boss was there. When the waitress in charge told me it was her, I asked if her boss was there. They both got the most horrified look on their faces. It was like I physically assaulted them, but the one in charge eventually went off, presumably in search for the boss. She eventually came back- without her boss- and told us that any two of us could go in, just not all three.
I cannot even convey how relieved we were that we could resolve the issue. I hate spending money and not getting what I’m owed, and even more, I hate seeing my friends sad. Although I do feel bad that we put the people there in a difficult place, we did pay for a service, and I don’t believe that it was wrong to demand that we get what we paid for. I acknowledge that we made a mistake, but we did try to rectify it by proving that the person who reserved the spot wanted my friend and I to go.
For the rest of the time we were there, the entire staff did seem to make an extra effort to keep an eye on us especially, and the waitress who I stared down made even more of an extra effort to avoid me at all costs (which I found a little hilarious, by the way. I’m not exactly what one would usually refer to as intimidating, seeing as I’m usually a good five inches shorter- at least- as everyone around me). Everything she had to tell us, she told my friend. She would not look me in the eye. It was definitely an interesting experience and one I will not forget.
