Chen Song Ping

When a non- Japanese got lost in Yokohama

Ravethy and I couldn't find 
the way back to our hotel.
The road signs then
were all in Japanese. 
Even the road map brochure
was of no help.
And, it was getting darker.

We were delighted 
when we saw a man in uniform.
He was very happy to help;
rattling away to me 
(in Japanese) 
both palms together 
pointing forwards,
then his right hand
 directing to the right... 
brushing aside my attempts 
with crossed hands 
and shaking head
to say I did not understand!
Sigh! We stood by
 the road side again! 
The baseball game was over 
at a nearby stadium. 
We were lucky to find
a fellow Singaporean 
to explain the route to us. 
It was only 
a ten minutes walk away!

That was in the 1990s.

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Four years ago, I went back again to Japan. I found that more Japanese people could speak English. The signs and maps seem easier to read. I learned to speak some simple Japanese, too!

The uniformed man had mistaken me for a Japanese. Last week a fellow blogger addressed me as a Korean! Not long ago another thought I was a Taiwanese!

A face and a name can be misleading!

I am from Malaysia! My ancestors were from Hainan island, China.

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