I am a Chinese from Singapore.

Many years ago, I was having a holiday with my family in Tokyo. At that time, I was armed with only two phrases of Japanese. 'Benjo wa doko desu ka?' & 'Wakarimasen'

One evening, I was standing by the road side waiting for my family who was in a shop.

A group of elder Japanese men and women, apparently not from Tokyo, was seen looking at a map and discussing obviously about directions. When they spotted me, one of them came up to me and said something in Japanese which I didnt understand.

Being tense myself, I simply blurted out 'Wakarimasen'.'Wakarimsen, eh, wakarimasen eh' the old man bowed over and over again as he back tracked to his group.

I felt so bad about it but I couldnt do anything. I was thinking to myself 'Oh how I had given a bad image to the resident of Tokyo. The group might probably went back to the country side and tell others how rude the peolpe in Tokyo are.

When I came back to Singapore, I immediately enrolled in a course in Japanese Language and today I can speak some simple Japanese.

To the nice old men and women whom I shocked 'Gomen Nasai'

1998/1/22