[BretWeir]

[ QUOTE ]
I went to a concession stand and ordered a lemonade. I had seen someone else with one and he had ice in it. Well, I got one without ice and tried asking for some ice to be put into my drink. I didn't speak Japanese, the concession guy didn't speak English. I tried pantomiming ice - cold, brrr, shivering - a group of customers gathered around and tried to help, shouting out instructions to the concession guy.

The guy kept running around behind his counter picking up random things and showing me. I'd shake my head and keep "shivering." Finally, he picked up some ice from below the counter (I couldn't see it) - I pointed and said, "that's it" with a big smile. About 15 Japanese people shouted and cheered and pounded my back like I had just hit a home run.


[/ QUOTE ]

Cool story. Mrs. Weir had a similar experience at the ballgame. She went to the food stand I posted a picture of and tried to order some potato chips, which were labeled (in English) "Potato Chips." The workers couldn't understand her, so she started pointing, pantomiming opening a box and eating potato chips, peeling potatos, etc. Finally, in desparation, she started saying "potato chips" with a fake-Japanese kind of pronunciation -- "potaru chippu! potaru chippu!" And immediately the girl was like, "Ah, potaru chippu!" and hands her the container of chips. When she got back to the seat she started feeling guilty and was like, "Was that racist?"

Anyway, the potato chips were black pepper flavor and incredibly good.

And yes, my experience was that -- with just a few exceptions -- the Japanese were incredibly nice and helpful.