Of course, after such experiences, I had left for Italy full of nostalgia, longing to be in Japan again. But I did not ever think to move there for good. As someone wisely said, tourism is one thing, emigration is another. And this applies to Japan more than to many other places. To integrate in Japan, for a foreigner, is really difficult, from the cultural point of view and even more regarding the job opportunities. And it's not just a question of bows and ideograms: that's the less. Japanese are really very kind with foreigners, especially with Europeans and Americans, but not always with those who want to become "one of them". They think that this, for most of the foreigners, is a too much ambitious program. A wise person would not ever try to do it. And they don't like the unwise persons.
I had some weeks of hard times to catch up with the job, especially with the rhythm of the job. Up to the point that when I reminded those careless, hasteless moments with Masako and Yoko, in that fake but so cozy and relaxing Japanese "house", I hardly believed I had really lived them, and not in a previous life.
So when the dust subsided and I could breath, the first thing I did was to prepare another long break in Tokio. I dropped even a possible career opportunity because it interfered with my plans. Life is made of priorities. On the other hands, I perfectionated my skills about tele-working. And since I had found that my improved skills in Japanese language were apreciated by my clients and my bosses, I had a good rationale for my superego (and my bosses too): I was planning not another long holyday, but a short advanced language course.
A language course is always a good way (and a good rationale) to make a trip, no matter where. A language is a skill, it looks well in a CV, it's good for your culture (and your brain: the more it works, the later it will give you problems), and language courses usually last longer and cost less than any other form of travel. And to know a language doubles you chances to get out with a girl you like. The accommodation can require a bit of sportsman's spirit (a "student's house" is never a Hilton), but getting a bit out of your confort zone is also a healthy move, every now and then. Just a bit, of course. I am not one of those extreme-sports nuts...
This time I would not have travelled alone. There was a guy, the son af an acquaintance of mine. He was a real Japan-lover, more than I. He had graduated with a very good grade, he had asked a trip to Tokio as a prize, and the family had had to accept it, but they would have never let thim go alone.
And quite rightly. He was a nice and educated guy, but Japan is not just around the corner, in any sense. And he had just some basic notions of Japanese language, and some confuse ideas of how Japan should have been (but not necessaryly was).
While I had read "Sayonara", the James Michener's romantic and a bit idealized novel about Japanese women in the 50es, when I was as young as he was now, he had a real culture about "manga", "anime" and everything. But this was not enough to face the real Japan. As it was not enough even "Sayonara"...
So they entrusted me that guy, and I took the task seriously. I talked with him, as a "sempai" can talk to a "kohai", since he liked that kind of terms, or if you prefer, as a veteran who makes it clear to a rookie, "The young British soldier", something alike.
"Speak English, always English, only English, your Japanese is laughable," I told him. "Study it, as well as you can, the more you will learn their language, the more they will respect you, but their culture is not only their language, is more complex. If they ask if you know Japanese, say you know it a bit, now and forever, never boast. You'll never be one of the boys, for them, you are a "gaijin" and so you will always be. Play your role, don't get mad to bow as it takes, you will never learn, and nobody expects it from you. Just bow your head, show respect, they will understand you are a nice guy all the same."
"But if I won't become one of them, how can I find a job there?". So THIS was his plan. Poor boy...
"That's it: you will never find it. Why should they give a job to you, with all the guys they have? To get a place there, you must be MORE skilled than them. And you have even to find someone who understands it, and admits it, even if you are a "gaijin". And the job rules are hell. We are socialist, compared to them. You better just forget it."
"And what if I start my own business?"
"Columbus's egg, ain't it? And what to you want to do? A pizzeria? You come late, they are almost sick and tired, of how many they are. By the way, sushi and tempura are not bad, but don't try the seaweeds, you have to be born for that... And tofu too, is like to eat cardboard, if you don't baster it with something... Asashi beer is quite good too, sake, try it once, if you wish, but I don't advise you. Got it?
When we got to the chapter "girls", I had to burst other bubbles. Sempai must be cruel, sometimes. Geishas were virtually estinct, in their traditional shape, and however they were not at all what he thought: top class escorts who followed traditional time-wasting rules of engagement before to get to bed. To die with AIDS from them was impossible, because sex was out of question, if not with their "danna", if they still existed (but it was hard to explain him what they were: not selfless sponsors, so to say). But to die with boredom...yes it was possible, at least for an uneducated "gaijin". As he was.
"And the...how do they say... soapland?" he asked?
I snorted. He was quite informed, after all... Japanese called them "sopurando", with their peculiar idea of English pronunciation. Once upon a time they called them "turkish bath", but the Turkish embassy had protested for the embarrassing linking. And they had passed to something more apolid. Land of the soap. No ambassador had ever protested for that. And not even the detergent manufacturers' association, coming to think of it...
I interrogated him about them, and he already knew all the above, but there was a thing that he ignored. A detail. But as always is, the devil is in the details.
"Well, yes, they exist. But virtually only for japanese. Someone says that it is so because some bad American servicemen in shore leave made an epic mess in one of them, mistreated the girls, some time ago. Some other people say that's because there is the Yakuza behind that business, and they dont like that the "gaijin" have fun with japanese girls. However, it is almost forbidden zone, for us. There is a few places where "gaijin" can enter, but they say that the girls working there are not so Japanese: Koreans, this kind of things.
"And is it right? I mean, Yakuza and the rest... "
"Right or wrong, I don't know. Words passing by. I have a friend who was there, he speaks japanese better than I. He says it's fine, girls are nice, they wash you, pamper you like a baby, but they are naked as when they came to the world. And if you are handy with the girls, you can make a deal for the rest. And Japanese or Koreans, the girls are dynamite. I did not go there yet."
"And the 'Enjo Kosài"?" he asked. I stared at him.
"What do you know about "Enjo Kosài"?
"well... I know that the translation is more or less "sponsored meeting", or "meeting for a help"... Usually it involves students, or however very young girls..."
"Yeah. An euphemism for 'under aged'", I said, frowning. There is a minimum age limit for this kind of games, in my humble opinion. And however, a real woman in bed is worth two, three teenage chicks. With a woman, sex is a jam session. With a too young girl, besides the moral issues, it's boring like to teach her to play the piano... From the scratch...
"However, It seems something like the old stories about Russian girls meeting strangers to have jeans or stockings, in the late 80es..."
"Prehistory", I shrugged. Those days were gone. Russian girls were always there, beautiful as ever, but rules of engagement were totally changed... "And there are two difference. Then, Russian girls asked for jeans and stockings directly, as a gift, so it seemed a bit less like prostitution. Now, the girls involved in "Enjo Kosài" ask MONEY and THEN go and buy fashion stuffs, famous brands, Gucci, D&G, and not only dress, even hi-tech gadgets, the last I-phone and the like..."
"And the second difference?"
