A Special Springtime

Spring is here. The cold wind has receded to the mountains until next fall. The bitter snow, long gone. As the students shed their coats and open the classroom curtains, the sun beats down harder and harder. This, too, dear friends, is the season of the Sakura, Japan's famous cherry blossoms. Seemingly every tree is bursting with the light pink flower on every branch. It is a sight to behold, one which draws visitors from all over the world annually. And what would the sakura and spring time, even Japan, be without one very important thing?

That thing, of course, is racism.

Ok, calm down. Let me break out the story. :D

This past weekend, I went to Fukuoka on a whim. Hey, I hadn't been there yet, and it's supposed to be a nice place (It was). Additionally, it has a Wendy's which is supposed to be delicious (It was... twice). Come on, give me a break, I haven't been there in 7 months. Anyway, I went with 3 friends. Two other american guys, Anthony and Matt, and one of my Japanese friends, Kana.

Since we were going on a whim, we didn't make hotel reservations anywhere. We figured we'd try our luck once we got there. We left a little late, so that was going to make things a bit more difficult. We arrived in Fukuoka in the mid afternoon and immediately started walking around looking for capsule hotels, or hostels, or cheap hotels, or whatever we could find. After many failed attempts, we started to realize we may just have to break into two groups for the night (since it's near impossible to find a 4 person hotel room without sinking to a Love Hotel).

Kana and Matt found a double in one hotel while Anthony and I waited outside (so the hotel clerk wouldn't see us in case they found something we could all sneak into later). Unfortunately, there was only one room, but there was a hotel across the street. Before booking, Matt and Kana went over to the other hotel to check there. They came out a moment later to tell Anthony and I, "Ok, they have two singles." We decided to split here and go check in to our respective hotels. Matt and Kana went back across the street while Anthony and I walked into the new hotel. Anthony approached the counter, "Futatsu shingaru, kudasai." (Two singles, please.)

The two men behind the counter fumbled with the papers for a moment but almost instantly, one of them looked up and said, "Oh... umm... no... no vacancy..."

Anthony and I looked at each other puzzled and said, "Oh... okay, thank you..." and left. Outside, Anthony said to me, "I bet it's because we're gaijin..." I didn't quite believe this, but didn't think it was too far fetched... we called Matt and Kana to hopefully catch them before making reservations to let them know that our hotel was now magically full. They returned a minute later just as confused as we were. We told them Anthony's hypothesis and Kana kind of rolled her eyes. Matt said, "Okay, Kana, let's go back in there." And off they went. :)

The next bit went something like this. Kana walked back in and asked the men, "Wait a second. I came in 5 minutes ago and you had rooms available. My friends, who speak Japanese, came in not two minutes later, and suddenly you're full. What happened?" The men looked at each other and said, "Oh... we filled the rooms... but wait, we just got a cancellation." Kana asked, "You just now got a cancellation?" The men replied, "Uh... yes..." "Yeah, that's a good story..." Kana said, rather pointedly. To this, the men only shuffled with more papers while staring at their feet, remaining completely silent.

Kana and Matt came back outside to tell us that we had rooms and to go back in. So we did. Once inside, the men were much more polite and cordial while we filled out the information sheet and paid. I got them back, though... I filled out my information in romaji. Those punks don't DESERVE kanji. >:(

Anyway, it was just something to laugh about. We didn't get too offended or upset because what good would it do? We just rolled with it and enjoyed the rest of our trip wandering around downtown Fukuoka (and eating Wendy's... did I mention that important bit yet?). I guess since Fukuoka's a bigger tourist place, certain hotels are less apt to let the "party-boy american" types in their hotels. That's all well and good, but we literally said two words to them and they made that judgement. Racism is an interesting thing in Japan... so many borderline, if not full-out prejudiced things happen that it's hard to list specifics. You just take it in stride and remember that's the whole point of the exchange programs: to knock down the stereotypes and internationalize both parties.

Don't get me wrong. I completely love Japan. I don't at all see this experience as a black mark that will bring shame upon this country for millenia to come. It was just funny and worth telling about. :)

And Wendy's was awesome, too.