On my lunch break I went to the nearby Lawson convenience store for lunch. On the way back to NOVA, I was followed by two young kids who saw me and started saying “Gaijin! Gaijin da!” (Foreigner! It’s a foreigner) loudly behind my back. I was very close to turning around and saying “Nihonjin! Nihonjin da!” (Japanese person!), but I decided to be nice instead.

I saw those kids later in another teacher’s kids class. I am guessing the novelty of seeing a gaijin walking around was similar to when you saw your teacher grocery shopping as a kid and realized they didn’t live at school.

After work I enjoyed some beer and sushi. Yum!