Nihongo-a-Go-Go :: Mandy's Journal

Observations in Sakae

There are all these nicely dressed young guys hanging out in Sakae Station, mostly down in the underground mall area. Their hair and jewelry isn't that of businessmen, but they're always dressed in impeccible suits, with fancy mobile phones. I had a little fear that they were somehow connected to the yakuza. But I was wrong.

As Aimee found out about a month ago, these guys are actually recruiter pimps. They hassle young women out shopping and try to get them to come work for them. I'm not kidding you.

And today they were out in full force, totally harassing these young women. Who, grant you, were dressed rather like little tramps in super short skirts and stilettos. But still...serious sexual harassment. I don't think you could have anything like that in the States. The girls handled it all very masterfully, pointedly turning their made-up faces away and giggling with their friends. Maybe they're used to it, but it just made my skin crawl. The guys can be really persistent, and I totally just wanted to shove them and tell them to go away. How...vile.

In other news, the mac and cheese continues to go. Tonight we consumed two whole boxes of it over a two hour period. And in case you were wondering, mio famiglia, what those green squiggly noodles look like, here you go!

And lastly, let me tell you about the bugs here. Firstly, the mosquitos must be Satan spawn. There are two types. One is the normal, annoying variety. The other is larger and has a striped body. The bits of this insect are terrible! They leave huge painful welts that can bruise and last weeks. Terrible! The other summertime bug is the cicada. I was told by a student that there are seven breeds of cicada in Japan, and they seem to all be trying to vocally outdo the others all day, every day. They're so loud! And huge! In the mornings, the sidewalks are littered with dead ones. Which are probably 2 or 2 1/2 inches long. I managed to get a picture of a living one up in a tree at the Tokugawaen last weekend. Here you are!

So, off I go to Apita Seto for work tomorrow. I've heard it takes an hour to get there. And that because it's a new school, there are like two students. The same two students. All. Day. Long. Woo. *dies*

Posted by Mandy at August 6, 2005 11:11 PM