Japanese word Gaijin

General
#21

Ah, Gaijin Smash… Well, I guess I can explain it in the form of a personal story.

Last year, I was at an Onsen with Luke, Masako, and our good friend Louis. After we got out, we all went to the milk machine to get some delicious strawberry milk. As I was fishing in my pocket for my coin pouch, an attendant came up to me, pointed to the locker key on my wrist, and told me that I wasn’t supposed to put that in the coin slot. He told me all that in Japanese! :wink: I didn’t mind at all. I thought it was very cute that he thought I was such a stupid gaijin that I’d put my key in the coin slot to get a drink. Even more cute, he explained it all to me in Japanese! :wink:

So, Gaijin Smash is the art of taking advantage of their super-low expectations of our intelligence. :wink:

Personally, I like doing what I can to fit into the culture, as it feels very natural to me already. But I still enjoy a funny Gaijin Smash story. :slight_smile:

(Our last trip was documented here, btw)

#22

That was funny :slight_smile:

#23

awwwrs kyle sucks you got sick, commenting while i’m watching your brother all lost haha
the legendary jacket haha
nice to see you met some nice people
interesting to see your brother as the most seen in the vid ^.^

#24

What a wonderful blog about your trip to Japan, Kyle! Thank you for sharing!

I haven’t had to use the “Gaijin Smash” yet for the most part, likely I just haven’t been here long enough. But in regard to my Japanese in-laws, they treat me as an equal/native in pretty much all situations and don’t seem to acknowledge my limited Japanese much. Which is wonderful, but doesen’t allow any 'Smashing.

Second because my Japanese level is still really limited so most of the time when I meet someone I don’t know who tries to talk to me, I just say “suminasen, nihongo wakarinai. Gomen nasai!” or something to that extent. But i’m sure it’ll happen at some point, just part of going with the flow when your here. If you get upset at every little thing, you just won’t make it in Japan. It’s great you could laugh off that guy thinking you would put a key in the machine. Silly man, who would put a key in a drink machine? ^^"

© 2020 Kyle Abbott