Naming Your Neighbours
April 20, 2003
After reading Chang’s update, I’m reminded of a similar thing Eri and I do in the apartment. On our floor there are about 8 apartments. I never went down to the end of the hall before so I really haven’t a clue. I met all the Japanese neighbors once and that was in October. I was told it was proper etiquette to say hello to your neighbors and say something along the lines of, “Please welcome me to the building if it will not bring dishonor to your generation and 42 generations along your line. If you please.” So I gave them some packs of the smoked salmon I had horded from Vancouver. Ever since then, I haven’t even seen them, let alone try to talk to them.
In these past months, people (mostly the foreigners), have moved, have come and gone, and very few have stayed. For the ones that have stayed, we have special names for them.
- There’s See Sit - it’s because her name has the Chinese characters to see, and to sit and also I have no idea how to pronounce them in Japanese, so I dubbed her See Sit.
- There’s also Wine - same reason as above.
- There’s Nose - same reason as above.
- Then there’s The Guy Who’s Dying - he’s really interesting. I have never seen him and I’m not quite sure which particular apartment he is in. Sometimes I think he’s to the right of me, sometimes I think he’s on the floor above. Wherever he is, he seems like he’s dying because EVERYDAY he makes the most horrendous coughing/gagging/lugey hocking sounds I have ever heard in my life. Top that off with that he almost screams out these sounds. He usually goes through these dying fits very early in the morning. I think I heard some organs drop to the floor once.
- As for the foreigners, I don’t really know them. There was one guy who lived at the end of the hall. I forgot his name but I bought this computer desk from him. His apartment stunk so much. He doesn’t really have a name, but we just refer to him as stinky guy.
I bet they all have names for me like, “There’s the Japanese guy” or “There’s the Foreign guy”. The thing about being a Chinese-Canadian in Japan is that no one knows what the fuck to do with you. Most people just assume I’m Japanese and therefore be fluent in the language. I guess in Canada if you see a caucasian person running around, you’d assume he’s an English speaker too. Makes you think.
