Unwanted Attention

I think everyone here is totally exhausted at the moment. So we've mostly been sleeping, studying, eating ramen and trying not to sleep through class.

But one exciting thing did happen to us in our least favourite restaurant, Joyfull. It's a pretty grim sort of place, clean and the food is alright if you like 1000+ calories of hard to identify fried meat. I usually eat cheesy tofu (which sounds gross but is actually not that bad).

We've all become insomniacs recently, because the weather is changing maybe, or we're all too out of sorts and freaked out by being in a foreign country for two weeks that we can't sleep at night at all, or in the day. So the other night, at 1am, we went to Joyfull for their 130 yen drink bar and ice cream sundaes.

We were only there about 15 minutes when a strange old man came to visit out table. He was visibly drunk, I would guess in his early 60s, very skinny. He had with him a little bottle of sake, and tried to talk to us. Our Japanese isn't great, but even if it had been, I don't think I could have understood him. He leaned in over our table a little too close, and when the waitress came to bring my ice cream I thought for a moment he was going to just stick his finger right in it!

The waitress gently lead him away, and we thought she had probably asked him to leave, or at least would keep an eye on him to keep him at his own table. But only 5 minutes later he came back - and this is the mental bit - leaned over to me and said すみません　(excuse me), and then something hard to understand in Japanese, the only part of which we caught was 三千円 (3000yen) which works out about £24 in UK money. We didn't understand what was going on at all, and were just sort of staring at him, until we noticed the jesture he was making - a fist with the thumb pushed between two fingers which we have been told in Japan is a pretty rude gesture, like fuck or fuck you, or like a sex symbol.

SO basically he was offering me £25 quid to have sex with him!

My friend Chris pretty much saved us, figuring out way faster what was going on and saying "いいえ、これはだめです" which means - no, that's forbidden. He seemed to get it and wandered off to hassle some other tables while we stared at each other in total confusion.

The waitress came again, and this was almost the most shocking part, sat him down very close to us even though it was obvious he was hassling us, and brought his food over. He sat and stared at us while we tried to eat our ice cream and act normal. And THEN HE TOOK HIS SHIRT OFF. We were all really trying not to look, but it was quite hard work seeing as he was shirtless in a family restaurant. The waitress came over again and spoke to him - but not as you would expect in the UK to tell him to put his shirt on and leave. She talked to him like he was a child, patting his arm, asking him how he travelled to the restaurant, if he wanted anything else etc. We were so shocked, because he was obviously very drunk and anti-social, staring at me and other girls in the place like a total pervert.

I think that is a very odd part of Japanese culture - the relationship between the customer and the waitress. Because he was the customer, she obviously was not able to tell him off or get him to leave, because he had bought something. Also, I don't think an English restaurant would have served him alcohol when he was already visibly drunk.

He carried on staring at me, and only stopped when Mounir's girlfriend, very pretty and blonde, came to sit at a table close by, when he turned to stare at her instead. Pretty disgusting. He didn't move his eyes for half an hour! And then we made a quick exit.

Totally creepy. I've been quite surprised not to have had more stuff like this happen in Japan, because Japanese men have such a reputation. But I do get a lot of stares and unwanted attention generally in the street.

Having red hair in Japan is like having a massive target painted on you! I'm considering maybe dying it darker just to avoid the hassle...   or maybe I'll just give up on my university course and become a 3000 yen hooker.