Janie's Got a Gun?

Last week I discovered a new path between bus stops where I transfer from the bus that picks me up somewhat far from my apartment to the bus that takes me somewhat near to my school. In previous weeks, I'd seen people from my first bus pop out in different locations on the street where my second bus is located as they made their own bus transfers. So I decided to follow them and learn something new about this city. The first time I followed, I was able to do so unobtrusively, as there were several people walking the same back streets. The second time I followed, there were just two people (a man and a woman) and me on the back roads. The man looked back and spotted me; and he decided to continue on past the turning point from the back road to the bus stop that he unknowingly had showed me previously. And today, the third time I took this route and ended up following him, only this man and I were walking the back road. When he looked back and spotted me, I knew I must have spooked him since he immediately picked up his pace. When he decided to go out on to the main road via the road beside the McDonald's, all I could do was smile, especially since we met back up again not more than five minutes later on the main road.

Recently, another person whom I've met here in Japan told me a story about cultural proximity distances. (In case you don't know, notions of personal space differ from culture to culture.) This person said a Japanese person that he/she had been talking to thought that Americans' personal space was much greater than that of people from other cultures because all Americans carry guns and we never know when someone might shoot us. Now, I've been told that I'm intimidating to men. And while my friends who've told me this haven't elaborated on why they think this is so, I don't think they meant that I appear to be the type of woman who would shoot someone! So who knows why this guy is scared of me. But we'll see each other again on Thursday as we have seen each other every other non-Wednesday weekday. However, since walking the back roads doesn't really save any time over walking the main road, maybe for his comfort and my safety I'll stick with walking the main road.

Until next time...