Fun with foreign tourists!

[brendala]

I had a weird day at the supermarket a little while ago. While walking through Vons (a California grocery chain) I noticed a huge group of Japanese tourists. I could tell they were with a tour group because they all wore name tags written in Japanese and I overheard them mention a "hoteru". There was at least 15 of them in the group and they all moved through the market together (they were quite a sight!). They bought a lot of stuff. I didn't see exactly what; but I assume it was food that's not easy to come by in Japan (like pineapples and steak).

When my mother and I went to the parking lot to get into my car, the HUGE tour bus was parked next to us. The tour group stepped out of the store as we were packing up the trunk; and they all started taking photos of the market and the surrounding area! The way they were going on, you'd think they were in front of the White House or something. It was unbelievable! I know Japanese markets are way smaller than the average American market, but it just amazed me how impressed they seemed to be by something as mundane as a grocery store.

I wonder if this is how those tourists feel when gaijins snap photos at their Shinto shrines...XD

Comments

[ichiban-victory.livejournal.com]

It's really the sheer size of things that'll cause them to stop and take notice. Everything's so packed in tight over in Japan it must be quite the sight to see space. It's something we really take for granted here. (I always love when tourists come through back home. I love hearing what it is they're here to see, what they think, and perhaps share some places they'd enjoy seeing.)

[brendala.livejournal.com]

Yeah. And I imagine visiting a grocery store with an entire aisle dedicated to candy & soda and a little Starbucks inside (yes, my Vons has a mini-Starbucks -_-) just blows their minds.

Tour groups like that are fairly common in Anaheim (the city where Disneyland is located), but there's nothing tourist worthy where I live. That's why the huge group of shutterbugs was such a shock!

[ichiban-victory.livejournal.com]

Starbucks is everywhere... We even have one in our local Safeway store back home. And seriously, it is everywhere. Way back when my high school got a new Japanese teacher straight out of Japan, I chaperoned for my sister's Japanese class trip to Seattle. I was chatting with the new teacher who was shocked and amazed that we had Starbucks in Seattle! (She had no idea it actually started in Seattle.) She came from a small island in Japan that had a Starbucks, so she was under the impression it was not a huge chain.

(I know where Disneyland is.) :D