I went into a coffee shop today in my neighborhood to see if I could strike up a conversation with some locals. I went in and sat at the bar. There was a myriad of flasks, brushes, and doodads for percolating coffee. Behind the bar a 50 something woman with curly dark brown hair was attending to the customers. As soon as I sat down a 60 something auto company retiree starts talking to me.

“Can you read Japanese literature?” Huh? Literature? He must mean Japanese letters or characters.

“Yes, I can read Japanese.” I said in Japanese.

“How long are you staying in Japan?” He might mean how long have you been in Japan.

“It hasn’t been 2 years yet. About a year and eight months.”

“Your Japanese is really good for being in Japan only 2 years.” 

“Thank you.” Repress the urge to be smarmy.

“Where are you from?”

“Texas.” He didn’t say where do from  this could turn into a coherent conversation.

“Where?”

“Texas.”

“Where in Texas?”

“Houston.”

“I know Houston. My son went to a medical school there.” He put his fist over his heart. I know the word he wants to use.

“Cardiologist.”

“That’s the word.”

The conversation continued a little further, but soon he had to be on his way. I enjoyed talking with him even if it was only for a short while. I surveyed the room to see who there was left to talk to. To my right was a man with down syndrome. Most of the time he laid his head on the bar and pretended to sleep. He was waiting for the manager to give him a pen to write something. To my left was an old woman of about 80. She talked of her inability to understand English. It turns out when she was in junior high, it was forbidden to learn English because of the war.

An elderly man dressed in a black turtleneck and dark grey trousers came and sat between me and the octogenarian. He must have been at least 70. He wore a necklace with a large white tusk hang. He smoked a sweet smelling tobacco in his pipe and talked on and on about politics. The manager told me that he is the dance instructor for the community center. I had a little trouble keeping up with their talk about politics, mostly because I haven’t watched the news lately, so I didn’t know most of the names they were dropping. So I just listened for awhile and then I paid my bill.

If you haven’t been paying attention. The only person under 30 in the entire story was me. Did you ever see the movie “The Children of Men”? The one where almost the entire world has gone sterile. Well that’s what it’s like sometimes living in Japan. Not that I don’t mind gabbing it up with grandma moses and learning about war times. It’s educational, but I would really like to hangout with people my age. I don’t think it’s just Fukuoka either. What say you people living in Japan?

On a side note: When I visited Korea it was just the opposite. The majority of people seemed to be in their 20’s and 30’s. I think that might be the biggest reason why Korea seems so much noisier.