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East Smoke Rising

And another report (the second lady I promised to report about in the past post)
Author: CP	August 28, 2008 at 02:04:36

	Alright, time to write about the other sighting from last week. It actually happened before the lady who I talked to about Kyoto. And, I talked to this lady, too! Yeah, pretty unusual for me to talk to two ladies in one day at the coffeeshops, where Japanese people just about never talk to strangers. The first lady, at a different coffeeshop (and different city, actually; there are cities separated by short train rides where I live, and my train pass for commuting to work allows unlimited rides to and from any station between my home and work stations, so I often take advantage of it to stop off at different stations on the way home or to go to different places on the weekends. So, I go to the first coffeeshop. It is one of the many where the smoking area is much larger than the nonsmoking area, and also a nicer, quieter place to sit, so I can sit there without feeling self-conscious about it. Anyway, I get a table there easily, plenty of them open, and go back to get my sandwich and drink. Sit down and, after a corner table opens up (less smoke and better chances to glance sideways at the lady smokers sitting with their backs to the wall, like me), take it. I think one or two working ladies sit next to me before the one I talked to. Oh! I just remembered! Before I moved to the corner table (I was sitting at the table right next to it), there was an older lady sitting there looking at a brochure for an art exhibit in Tokyo. I actually struck up a pleasant conversation with her, too! She was the first of three that day! Probably the good vibes I got from talking to her set in motion the rest of the day. We talked about art and how often we go to exhibits and such. She bid me farewell, never once asking why I was sitting in the smoking section even though I wasn’t smoking and didn’t have an ashtray. Really nice lady. Regular style smoker, all-white kings if I remember right. I am sure that if I had asked if she would like to go to the art exhibit with me, she would have gladly taken me up on my offer, LOL. Okay, so after she left, and after I had seen she was out of view, I took her corner table. (I don’t like to just grab a recently unoccupied table, like a vulture, as soon as the person leaves it.) So, some time later, the second lady who I talked to (she wasn’t the first, as I had written earlier), came and, rather than picking another table away from me, sat next to me. I noticed the ashtray, of course, and looked at her casually to size her up. Looked mid-20s, pretty, cute, even beautiful, and borderline smokerish in looks. Fairly normal clothing/makeup/etc. She took out her pack of cigs. King size box, all black. John Player Specials. Another fairly uncommon cigarette here. I got my best look at them when she left to go to the bathroom. I glanced over and casually looked at the name on the cigs and naturally smiled a liittle, you know, the kind of smile without showing any teeth. Then my eyes tracked upward while I was still looking to my right (in the direction of her table), and I saw that she was actually not in the bathroom but was standing in the opening between the dining area and the two, gender separted bathrooms. She was looking right at me! Not sideways, but she had her back to the doorjamb farthest from me and was looking right at her and my tables’ direction. Guess she was waiting for the ladies room to open up. I didn’t really feel like I was caught with the slight smile on my face, because it all happened in a split second, so she had no way of knowing why I had smiled. Anyway, it had to be better than a frown, right? She came back and, I think after she ate her bread snack or whatever, lit up no hands. Cork filter king, and pretty strong if I remember from the time I researched their stats before, like 4 years ago when I saw a 50ish department store lady smoking them. Some time after she had finished, I started talking to her. It was the last day of the O-bon vacatioin period, three days of holidays from work that this year fell on Wednesday through Friday, so it turned into a nice 5-day vacation for many people, after Saturday and Sunday were included. I asked her about the train situation, whether she thought they would get crowded later in the day, what with people coming back home from vacation. That was just the opening gambit. From there, we talked about my job some, and her job. It turns out she studied at an art school in the Osaka area after high school, and then came back here to work … in a Uniqlo shop! Uniqlo is a famous chain in Japan. They sell very reasonably priced clothing and some other goods, most very blandly designed to appeal to the masses. They became popular thanks to their low prices combined with fair to good quality. They are popular with some people, mostly lower-middle class to middle-class young people who are not spoiled by their parents with all name-brand clothing. Nice shops, clean, but fashionwise very predictable stuff. I gave her my namecard and she told me her full name, promising to email me later. She did, the next evening. She was on a one-day trip to a hot spring with her mom. Told me she would love to have some tea or something with me sometime. I loved her voice; Very confident and strong, but not raspy as you might think from someone who smokes such strong cigarettes. (I know. Give her about 15 years, LOL!) She showed me a photo on her cell phone of a painting she had drawn. Really nice portrait of a friend of hers. She exuded the kind of confidence and sense of humor, yet also a distinctly feminine voice, that is quite uncommon in Japan. I took a likeing to her personlity right away, even if she is quite a bit younger than me.
Follow Ups
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	Name:    E-Mail:    Subject:    > Alright, time to write about the other sighting from last > week. It actually happened before the lady who I talked to > about Kyoto. And, I talked to this lady, too! Yeah, pretty > unusual for me to talk to two ladies in one day at the > coffeeshops, where Japanese people just about never talk to > strangers. > > The first lady, at a different coffeeshop (and different > city, actually; there are cities separated by short train > rides where I live, and my train pass for commuting to work > allows unlimited rides to and from any station between my > home and work stations, so I often take advantage of it to > stop off at different stations on the way home or to go to > different places on the weekends. > > So, I go to the first coffeeshop. It is one of the many > where the smoking area is much larger than the nonsmoking > area, and also a nicer, quieter place to sit, so I can sit > there without feeling self-conscious about it. Anyway, I > get a table there easily, plenty of them open, and go back > to get my sandwich and drink. Sit down and, after a corner > table opens up (less smoke and better chances to glance > sideways at the lady smokers sitting with their backs to > the wall, like me), take it. I think one or two working > ladies sit next to me before the one I talked to. > > Oh! I just remembered! Before I moved to the corner table > (I was sitting at the table right next to it), there was an > older lady sitting there looking at a brochure for an art > exhibit in Tokyo. I actually struck up a pleasant > conversation with her, too! She was the first of three that > day! Probably the good vibes I got from talking to her set > in motion the rest of the day. We talked about art and how > often we go to exhibits and such. She bid me farewell, > never once asking why I was sitting in the smoking section > even though I wasn’t smoking and didn’t have an > ashtray. Really nice lady. Regular style smoker, all-white > kings if I remember right. I am sure that if I had asked if > she would like to go to the art exhibit with me, she would > have gladly taken me up on my offer, LOL. > > Okay, so after she left, and after I had seen she was out > of view, I took her corner table. (I don’t like to just > grab a recently unoccupied table, like a vulture, as soon > as the person leaves it.) > > So, some time later, the second lady who I talked to (she > wasn’t the first, as I had written earlier), came and, > rather than picking another table away from me, sat next to > me. I noticed the ashtray, of course, and looked at her > casually to size her up. Looked mid-20s, pretty, cute, even > beautiful, and borderline smokerish in looks. Fairly normal > clothing/makeup/etc. > > She took out her pack of cigs. King size box, all black. John Player Specials. Another fairly uncommon cigarette here. I got my best look at them when she left to go to the bathroom. I glanced over and casually looked at the name on the cigs and naturally smiled a liittle, you know, the kind of smile without showing any teeth. Then my eyes tracked upward while I was still looking to my right (in the direction of her table), and I saw that she was actually not in the bathroom but was standing in the opening between the dining area and the two, gender separted bathrooms. She was looking right at me! Not sideways, but she had her back to the doorjamb farthest from me and was looking right at her and my tables’ direction. Guess she was waiting for the ladies room to open up. I didn’t really feel like I was caught with the slight smile on my face, because it all happened in a split second, so she had no way of knowing why I had smiled. Anyway, it had to be better than a frown, right? > > She came back and, I think after she ate her bread snack or > whatever, lit up no hands. Cork filter king, and pretty > strong if I remember from the time I researched their stats > before, like 4 years ago when I saw a 50ish department > store lady smoking them. > > Some time after she had finished, I started talking to her. > It was the last day of the O-bon vacatioin period, three > days of holidays from work that this year fell on Wednesday > through Friday, so it turned into a nice 5-day vacation for > many people, after Saturday and Sunday were included. I > asked her about the train situation, whether she thought > they would get crowded later in the day, what with people > coming back home from vacation. > > That was just the opening gambit. From there, we talked > about my job some, and her job. It turns out she studied at > an art school in the Osaka area after high school, and then > came back here to work … in a Uniqlo shop! Uniqlo is a > famous chain in Japan. They sell very reasonably priced > clothing and some other goods, most very blandly designed > to appeal to the masses. They became popular thanks to > their low prices combined with fair to good quality. They > are popular with some people, mostly lower-middle class to > middle-class young people who are not spoiled by their > parents with all name-brand clothing. Nice shops, clean, > but fashionwise very predictable stuff. > > I gave her my namecard and she told me her full name, > promising to email me later. She did, the next evening. She > was on a one-day trip to a hot spring with her mom. Told me > she would love to have some tea or something with me > sometime. > > I loved her voice; Very confident and strong, but not raspy > as you might think from someone who smokes such strong > cigarettes. (I know. Give her about 15 years, LOL!) She > showed me a photo on her cell phone of a painting she had > drawn. Really nice portrait of a friend of hers. She exuded > the kind of confidence and sense of humor, yet also a > distinctly feminine voice, that is quite uncommon in Japan. > I took a likeing to her personlity right away, even if she > is quite a bit younger than me.