Originally Posted By jonvn What happened at the Planet Hollywood? Is there some sort of weird Asian clique on here or something, where you all go to bad American restaurants in Japan and say things about the war to upset the locals?
Originally Posted By Mr X No, it's just SuperDry. But yes, he and I do go to bad American restaurants in japan and insult the locals...Planet Hollywood and TGIFridays mostly (he likes to enjoy local cuisine while in town, I guess). SD can explain it better than I, I'll let him do it.
Originally Posted By jonvn The night manager at the TGIF's about 4 blocks from my house was murdered the other night. Bludgeoned to death during a robbery. It was opened up again in two days. I'm going to turn in SD's name.
Originally Posted By Mr X That's awful! SuperDry doesn't seem like the bludgeoning type though...more of an assassin/poisoner if you ask me.
Originally Posted By jonvn Well, who knows what he's capable of when you're not watching him. Yes, it was terrible. I wanted to eat breakfast there, and it was closed. I was pissed.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< But yes, he and I do go to bad American restaurants in japan and insult the locals...Planet Hollywood and TGIFridays mostly (he likes to enjoy local cuisine while in town, I guess). >>> Oh come on now. TGIF's was totally your fault. We're going to Roppongi, and X asks me if I'm hungry and where I might like to eat. I say Oh, I don't know - what do you want? X says "How about TGIF's?" and then apologizes profusely, pointing out (correctly I might add) that I probably hadn't just traveled 7000 miles just to eat at TGIF's. But I'm a good sport, and realize that sometimes Americans in Tokyo get a hankerin' for some good American food (and barring that, will settle for TGIF's) so I went along.
Originally Posted By jonvn If I went to tokyo, the LAST place I'd eat is TGIF. OK, not the last. The LAST Place I'd eat would be McD's. But I don't suspect it will be an issue with me, since I'm dying so soon.
Originally Posted By Mr X lol. True, true. Next time teppanyaki! (if the market doesn't kill my wallet first lol) So SD, tell him the story of your harassment of the nice planet hollywood employee...
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< But I don't suspect it will be an issue with me, since I'm dying so soon. >>> What does that mean?
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< What happened at the Planet Hollywood? >>> <<< So SD, tell him the story of your harassment of the nice planet hollywood employee... >>> Apologies in advance for the long post, but I can't really explain the situation without giving the background. Please just skip over this if you don't want to know what happend at Planet Hollywood that night. First of all, unlike TGIF's, I won't make excuses for being at Planet Hollywood. It's the one in Ikspiari, which is adjacent to TDR and is basically the place that's open the latest at night and is still at the resort. So it's convenient to go to if you're staying on property. The bartenders all seem to be 20-something guys, and most speak English to one degree or another. I asked one if he knew of the term "sangokujin" which basically has two meanings: a neutral term used to refer to Koreans and Chinese that live in Japan, and a racist, derogatory term used to refer to Koreans and Chinese that live in Japan. It's an old-fashioned term from WWII that basically isn't used anymore, partly because of the dual meaning and partly because it's just old-fashioned. The bartender knew the word right of the top of his head, and said "Oh, you mean Koreans? Chinese?" which kind of surprised me. Then I asked him about what he thought about Tokyo Governor Ishihara's use of the word. See the link below, and read the section called Racism, for the background: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shintaro_Ishihara" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S hintaro_Ishihara</a> He just stood there for a moment, then turned away and wouldn't talk to me any more. I hadn't tried to create a conflict, insult him, or put anyone down. But the issue was that he realized at that moment that I knew the whole story behind Ishihara's statement and the background behind the whole situation, which would include the current situation, WWII issues, and what happened during the 1923 earthquake. That's the kind of thing that Mr X was talking about: Japanese people tend to want to ignore or pretend that certain things didn't happen, particularly with WWII, and can get very uncomfortable when they realize that a foreigner knows more about these things than they'd like. So, the situation with Gov Ishihara's comments and the whole historical context behind them got exchanged between me and the bartender in that short moment. I look over to Mr X, and he takes a puff from his cigarette and says something like "Well, that went over rather well!"
Originally Posted By jonvn "What does that mean?" Mr. X has very recently suggested I'm not long for this world.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< Mr. X has very recently suggested I'm not long for this world. >>> Oh, sorry to hear that.
Originally Posted By jonvn Yeah, well now that I know Mr. X smokes, I probably will end up here long after he's gone.
Originally Posted By jonvn IT sounds like the Japanese are embarassed and ashamed. As they should be.
Originally Posted By Mr X "Roppongi is now virtually a foreign neighborhood. Africans — I don't mean African-Americans — who don't speak English are there doing who knows what. This is leading to new forms of crime such as car theft. We should be letting in people who are intelligent." WOW, that guy really IS a racist. I wonder if HE can speak English. Most of the black guys I've ever met in Roppongi (and you meet them all the time, many of them are peddling hookers and other vices and they're very agressive about it) speak English quite well. ;p
Originally Posted By Mr X **IT sounds like the Japanese are embarassed and ashamed. As they should be.** They bury it well, in any case. And along with that they also have a very deep seated (okay, MANY of them have) hatred of Koreans and Chinese as well. Maybe a mechanism to deflect the guilt, I dunno. I do believe many of them really don't know much (or don't care to know much) about what went on. I had a very frank conversation with a close friend who actually had never heard of Pearl Harbor and assumed that the Americans "started it", and that the Emperor was an innocent pawn of the military. He did know about the comfort women though.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***Yeah, well now that I know Mr. X smokes, I probably will end up here long after he's gone.*** lol. My grandpa smoked 3 packs a day and lived to a ripe old age. No cancer or heart disease in my family. I'll be fine. Besides, how else could I come up with such a smooth quote like SD described without the aid of a cigarette to make it "extra cool". (^_^)y-~~~
Originally Posted By utahjosh <lol. My grandpa smoked 3 packs a day and lived to a ripe old age. No cancer or heart disease in my family. I'll be fine.> How's that red wine tasting?
Originally Posted By Mr X I really should drink some actually (for the anti-oxidants)... I'm more of a beer and shots guy though, although recently I have cut back quite a lot (got WAY too heavy last year and beer was the main culprit..and McDonalds).
Originally Posted By barboy "He just stood there for a moment, then turned away and wouldn't talk to me any more. I hadn't tried to create a conflict, insult him, or put anyone down." Ok Super D....... come clean now. You deliberately left out the part where you two exchanged calling/business cards whereby you quickly grabbed his card with one hand and then hastily folded it and stuffed it in your back pocket; then you blew your nose in his presence.
