I wonder if anyone will notice this...
Chinese Samurai
By Jack Ji
"Hey, Mike!" I shouted out as I ran down the hall, chasing a
slouching figure with brown hair about to go outside carrying a light
blue backpack and wearing a purple and blue jacket. I knew it had to be
him. He stopped and turned around as I caught up to him.
"How did your last final go?" I asked. It was the last day of
school , which meant finals for all students except seniors.
"OK," he replied. "But I think I could have done better."
"Did Hanny go home already?" I asked, knowing that he
probably did.
"Yeah," said Mike. "I think he and Liu Len left together and
said something about going to EMU to try out King of Fighters '96."
"So what did your parents think about my invitation?" I asked
as we walked out the door to the blinding sun of that mid-June day. We
started walking east while avoiding many cars getting out of the parking
lot.
"Watch it!" I exclaimed. "They think just because they get out
of high school for the summer, they can forget about rules! Anyway,
Hanny has already gotten permission to go from his parents so he's
going."
"I finally talked mine into letting me go to Japan," he said with
his usual slight frown on his face. Mike seemed to be always frowning
except for only a small percent of the time. "Mostly the thought of
learning more Japanese and the culture got them to let me go. I'm not
going to like going to school in Japan too much though."
"Hey, we're only going to see what school life in Japan is
like," I said. "You don't have do schoolwork unless you want. Besides,
we can look at the difference in work ethic there."
"Yeah, you're right," he said, still frowning. "I have to catch
my bus now and I think you do too. I"ll talk to you on the phone or e-
mail about the details of the airplane trip itself."
"OK," I replied with a smile. "I"ll call you right after my martial
arts practice. I have to say my farewells to Sensei and everybody."
We crossed the street to our respected bus stops as waved
good-bye to each other and got on our buses.
*******
The car ride had been long and boring but the sight of the
airport excited me. Hanny and Mike rode with me in my aunt's mini-
van with about 5 bags full of clothes and cameras. My dad was
borrowing it because we didn't have any other vehicle big enough to fit
the three of us and our bag. Our bags consisted mostly of underwear,
boxer shorts, t-shirts, shorts, swim trunks, towels and tank tops. We
each had a Japanese-English dictionary. Mike and I had our uniforms
for martial arts in a bag. I stepped out of the van, relieved to breathe the
cool night air again even if it was airport air. I could tell that Hanny and
Mike were relieved also.
"Well," I said, "We'd better get going if we want to take that 14
hour flight to Japan because it's almost 8:00." We watched a plane
disappear into the clouds as we walked into the airport.
We walked to our designated gate. I said good-bye to my dad
as I walked down through the tunnel-like passage to the airplane. I
would not see my parents again for 3 months!
I was extremely tired but could tell that Mike was even more
tired due to having only one week to prepare for this trip. Hanny looked
his usual self since he's so used to plane trips now. We had flipped a
coin between Mike and me to see who gets the window seat. I won and
Mike had to sit in the middle while Hanny was happy just sitting the
seat closest to the aile. I waved out the window as I said my last
farewell to my father as the plane started going. Fortunately, the movie
was extremely boring so we decided to take a 10 hour nap. We all
agreed to talk after we wake up later in the morning.
******
We woke up in the morning and the next few hours passed very quickly
and we just talked about what we plan to do there. I wanted to find a
dojo immediately to keep up my martial skills and so did Mike. Hanny
didn't have much in plan other than to have a taste of the culture and food.
The plane soon landed and my ears popped as wells as Mike
and Hanny's. I noticed that I was taller than everyone in the airport
except a few other non-Japanese people. We got out and I saw a sign
with my name in Chinese on it. It was carried by a women wearing a
white blouse and a red skirt. She had shoulder lenght hair with a little
wave in them. I waved at my nanny and smiled. This was the woman
that helped my mother around in the house when she was nine months
pregnant with me. Now, she's hosting my friends and I for three
months. After introductions were made, we went to get our luggage and
went outside to ride to my nanny's home. We were finally in Japan!
******
The car ride had been uneventful other than a small traffic jam.
When we got to my nanny's house, I almost bumped my head on the
doorway. I found out quickly that being 6 feet 1 inches tall isn't easy in
Japan right there. My nanny showed us our rooms and gave
us a quick tour of her house.
"Is there anything to eat around here?" I asked in Chinese
since she didn't know English and my Japanese wasn't good enough
yet. "We're starved!"
"Yes," she replied. "We have some rice and fish made out this
morning just for you guys." She pointed to the stove with 2 covered
steaming pots. I translated what she said into English for Mike and
Hanny and the three of us headed straight for the stove. "There are
some chopsticks in the second drawer to the right and I think there are
some forks there too."
We devoured the food in record time since the only thing
we've had to eat for almost a whole day was air line food. Once again, I
got another, warm fuzzy feeling but only stronger this time. Must be
something in the food, I thought.
"If you want," started my nanny, "You boys can go visit the
high school my son goes to in two day. I think you"ll need a little while
to get your body clocks tuned to Japan time."
I translated what she said and we nodded to her and smiled.
"Good," she said. "I have to go to out for a little while now. I"ll
be back around 6:00 to cook dinner. My husband will be back soon
from work." She started to walk out the door but I stopped her.
"Please start talking to us a little more at a time in Japanese," I
asked of her. "Mike and Hanny have had two years already and even
though I have had none, I still want to learn a little while I'm here."
Besides that, I also wanted to be able to go out by myself and the best
way to survive is to be able to speak it pretty well with the help of a
Japanese-English dictionary.
We waved bye to her and went to unpack our bags. We had a
hard time finding a place to put our stuff due to lack of room.
Everything we heard about the land problems in Japan were true.
We then realized we didn't put our dishes in the sink. We
immediately then went to do the dishes. The three of us quickly did the
dishes and put them in the dishwasher. It took us a while to figure out
the settings in Japanese but we finally got it to work.
We also really had to sleep on the floor but that was OK if we
really wanted to live Japanese. I had a feeling that we were going to
have the time of our lives here.
******
It had been 2 days since we arrived in Japan. Surprisingly, my
Japanese was getting better as was Mike's and Hanny's. I always did
have a knack for languages. They still had a bit more advantage over
me, however. The television watching helped a lot.
I quickly learned that I might be the tallest person in Japan. I
was half a foot taller than most other people. Mike, of course, got a lot
of people calling him gaijin. Hanny, being around 5 feet 8 inches tall
and Korean, fit in just fine.
My friends and I met my nanny's husband but he couldn't
speak Chinese, English or Korean so we were didn't say much to him.
We also met my nanny's son, Ken. Ken was in his last year in
high school and had an older brother, Tojo, was already in his second
year in college. Ken was a little taller than Hanny and looked a lot like
him also but with a little bit longer hair. He told us that he goes to
Furikan High School across town and that Tojo lives quite a distance
away going to Nekomi Institute of Technology or NIT.
"Sounds interesting," I said in English. Ken and Tojo both
learned English in middle school and still took it now. I took another
bite of my breakfast. I glanced at Hanny and Mike's plates. Mike, being
a slow and small eater, was only half way done while Hanny was just a
little behind me.
I noticed that each time I ate my nanny's cooking it had that
special warm fuzzy effect on me. It wasn't extremely good but it wasn't
the worst food I've had before. I think I'd enjoy the food more if I
actually sat in a chair and ate at a table instead of sitting on the floor. I
also got writer's cramp from using chopsticks so much. I made a
mental note to start using chopsticks at home when I got back. The
fleeing also kept getting stronger but I started to get used to it. I made
another mental note to ask her what spice she puts in there to make my
stomach do that. However, Hanny and Mike didn't get any strange
feeling that I got.
"Oh, I almost forgot," I said. "I'm looking for a dojo to
practice my karate for the summer and Mike is looking for a place to
practice aikido. Do you happen to know any good places around here?"
"Yeah," he replied. "I know that Akane and Nabiki Tendo's
father runs a dojo and I heard it's pretty good. They teach an art called
Anything Goes Martial Arts but I bet they'll probably know karate."
Hanny got up and took our plates to the sink and started
washing the dishes. Mike went to the bathroom.
"Good," I nodded. "Do they go to your school?"
"Yeah," he replied. "I see Nabiki all the time and I think Akane
is the same age as you guys are. I'd watch out for Nabiki, though.
She"ll trick you out of your money before you know it."
"Don't worry," Hanny said as he sat down. "We'll just say
that we have no money."
My nanny came to us and said something about school and
late in Japanese. I figured that she meant for us to hurry up or we'll be
late for our first day at school.
I went to knock on the bathroom door to tell Mike to hurry up
but he opened the door just as I was about to knock.
It felt strange not carrying a backpack to school but since we
are just visiting, we didn't need to do any of the work. We got in the car
and started off for Furikan High School.
******
"What are they doing?" I asked. I pointed out the window at a
girl with short hair and wearing a blue skirt and blue blouse fighting off
a band of guys.
"That's Akane Tendo," replied Ken. "She does that everyday.
It's an honor thing. Whoever defeats her, gets to date her."
"And who is that fighting with her?" asked Mike as we got out
of the car. Mike pointed to a pony tailed boy wearing red Chinese
clothes. My nanny drove off and didn't act any surprised like we were.
She didn't seem to care much about the fighting at all.
"That's Ranma Saotome," he said. "I"ll explain him later.
Come on, or we'll be late! And trust me, you don't want to stand out
int the hall holding buckets of water for me. Your Bill of Rights won't
help you in Japan!" We walked through the gate right before the mob
chasing Akane and Ranma came in as the gated closed. I was told in
school that Japanese schools were peaceful with no violence or theft.
Guess they were wrong.
The rest of the morning was peaceful until lunch. The three of
us couldn't know what was going on in any of Ken's classes. I was
surprised that not many kids talked during class. Once again, havoc
broke out. A blue-hairded girl wearing blue Chinese clothes broke down
a wall with what looked like huge baby rattles and carried box with
something written in Chinese on them.
"Nihao, Ranma!" she shouted. "Shampoo come to give you
lunch. Why not leave ungrateful Akane for Shampoo?" I could
understand what she said completely. I did find it a little strange that it
sounded a lot like how I speak in Japanese.
"Who is she?!" Hanny asked Ken, knowing that Mike and I
both wanted to know also.
"She's Shampoo," replied Ken. "I guess now's a good time to
tell you about Ranma." Ken then started telling us the story of how
Ranma is engaged to a whole bunch of girls and a little about each girl.
"Wow, another Chinese here," I said. "I wish I could have that
many girls chasing after me." I glanced at the area where Ranma was
again and saw Akane yell out something in Japanese and elbowing
Ranma. Shampoo screamed and pushed Akane away to take care of
Ranma's wounds.
"Ouch," we all said simultaneously except for Ken.
"Don't tell me," I said. "She trains at her dad's dojo, right?
Does Nabiki also train?"
"No," answered Ken. " Nabiki doesn't but Ranma does and his
dad is a master at Anything Goes Martial Arts just like Mr. Tendo."
"If Ranma trains also," started Hanny. "Why does he let
himself get beat up by a girl?"
I didn't bother to pay attention to the answer and walked over
to Shampoo. I started talking to her in Chinese while she nursed
unconscious Ranma. Minding my own business, I tried to avoid the
marriage issue. I found out that she was an Amazon and that she helps
out her great-grandma in a restaurant. I wrote down the address and
told her I'd probably go visit her after school today. I also found out
that the large baby-rattle were actually maces. After talking for about 20
minutes, she had to leave.
I finished my lunch and ate part of Mike's as well since he
didn't eat it all. I got that feeling again but I started to get used to it
more each time I ate and I hardly noticed it at all this time.
The only class Hanny, Mike and I could understand what was
going on was English class. Unfortunately, it was at the end of the day.
The class was much different from Spanish class in the USA. It was
much more boring. It was mostly grammar and I think Mike and Hanny
actually learned something in this class about when to use who and
whom.
My day visiting a Japanese high school was over. We walked
outside to meet my nanny and I asked her if we could take a stop at
Shampoo's restaurant. I was lucky that my nanny didn't feel like
cooking tonight so she said it was fine. Not only did I want to try some
Chinese food in Japan but also to see if I would still get that fuzzy
feeling eating at a restaurant.
"What's that laughing?" I asked.
"You're hearing things," Hanny told me. I looked back and
saw the back of someone wearing a black leather jacket with red wrist
bands and wavy blonde hair walking away from us.
End Part One.
Author's note: This is my first time writing in a year. I really was born
in China and I do speak Chinese but I can't read it. Hanny and Mike are
real friends of mine. Hanny is from South Korea and Mike was born in
Oregon. They both have taken Japanese for two year. I have taken
Spanish for 4 years now and plan to take Japanese next year. We are all
16 years old and currently sophomores. I really do have a nanny living
in Japan who helped my mom. I have been in the USA for 11 years
now and have never traveled back to Asia and I have really been to
Sydney Australia. I am a yellow belt in karate and taekwondo and
Mike takes aikido.
Please send notes, advice and criticism to jackji@efn.org.
Next Part: A visit to Shampoo's and more...
\ | /-- /--
---- ---|--- /\ /\
| | ----|----
| | |---|---|
|/ | | / | \ |
_/ | \_
______________________________________________________________________________
Member of the #ShAS#: Shampoo Appreciation Society - Our favorite femaline!
jackji@efn.org - Jack Ji - http://www.efn.org/~jackji