夏子

Yesterday I did some project work for the semester project here at HIF. The subject of my project is the relationship between the different religions in Hakodate. For prouject work, Matthew White-san and I tried to fill out some surveys that we made for Hakodate people. First, we tried walking around the area near HIF, but there weren:t too many people around there, so then we went to the train station where we figured there:d be lots of people waiting around with time to spare. When White-san and I arrived at the station, we found that there were many Japanese people waiting around, but they weren:t from Hakodate, they were mostly tourists and we didn:t want tourists to answer our questions, we wanted Hakodate people. Anyways, we did end up getting a few surveys filled out, but most of the Japanese people we asked said they didn:t have time and then they started laughing at White-san and I. I was really surprised at how mean the Japanese people were because it wasn:t just one person who laughed at us, but it happened on several occasions. Before doing the surveys, I was under the impression that Japanese people in general were very polite and reserved, but apparently they aren:t and they acted just like normal Americans would have. Usually Japanese people pretend they are really impressed by the amount of Japanese foreigners can speak and they compliment them on trying to learn the language and complement them on everything they do, but I guess that:s only when they:re trying to be polite.

Anyways, White-san and I thought we:d go to Goryokaku to get our surveys filled out. We got on the shiden and managed to get one survey filled out by the nice lady sitting next to us. At Goryokaku, we tried handing out the surveys to be completed, but nobody acknowledged us, so we tried the Yale method of "have food, will get surveys done" and bought a dozen donuts from Mr. Donut. We stood on the sidewalk with a sign saying "free donuts". There were a couple of Japanese people who passed by with interested looks on their faces, but they were most likely wondering what two gaizin were doing with free donuts and were probably too timid to find out.

Then, out of the crowd came our saving grace: Natusko. She filled out the survey, but refused a donut and asked us questions and practuiced her english with us. She then proceeded to help us get the rest of our surveys filled out! She was sooo nice and really made up for my dwindling impression of Japanese people. She took us to another corner and flagged down a flock of Japanese high school girls riding by. They filled out all our surveys and ate most of the donuts! Who cares if our survey results may have been a little skewed by our demographic pool, we got them filled out! Natsuko was amazing and we couldn:t have done anything without her, so we gave her the rest of the donuts in the box. Anyways, that was a great experience with Japanese people and I will never forget to repay the kindness Natsuko showed me that afternoon. <3