Dutchman in “dry” Tokyo (London/Tokyo, Japan)

In the mid-80s, a company in Farnham, Surrey (south of London), ran a course whereby they briefed people going to work in different places in the world, on all aspects of the country—the economy, the weather, the political system, the culture.  Anything they needed to know, depending on the kind of expert they could find.  The briefing course was a residential course and lasted a week.  Spouses usually came along.

They also had a guest evening whereby they invited people from those countries to come along for dinner with the trainees, during which the trainees would ask the guests all sorts of questions, usually fairly mundane ones that the experts did not or could not cover, such as availability of baby-sitters, availability of clothes and shoes in their larger Western sizes, availability of Western or tinned food, the condition of local meat, etc.  I’d get invited over to brief people on Singapore, but also covered Taiwan, Malaysia and Hong Kong.  Not so many people went out to China in those days to work.

Usually each table would be designated a country, but if there was only one trainee per region, they might sit together.  On one occasion, there were three regions sharing a table.  Conversation got round to availability of things that Westerners want, and this Dutchman, who’d been quiet all evening, said, “I was in Tokyo some years ago, to train the employees of a Japanese company.  They were all pleasant enough during working hours, but as soon as we knocked off work, they’d all scoot off home.  Nobody gave a thought to asking me out to dinner, never mind home for dinner!  I was very lonely all those weeks I was there.  I’d go to work, train people, and go back to my hotel—day in, day out.  After the first week, I gave up waiting for some Japanese to invite me along to their leisure activities, and decided to go in search of some fun.  I thought that the best places would be where alcohol was served, as people would be more likely to talk to strangers when they’ve had a few drinks.  I walked and walked and walked, but never found a place that served alcohol.” 

At this point, an American sitting at the next table butted in, “Excuse me, I couldn’t help overhearing what you just said.  I’d lived in Japan for many years.  Can I ask you, did you ever notice big red lanterns outside some places?”  The Dutchman said, “Oh yes, there were loads of red lanterns all over the place!”  The American said, “Well, those were drinking places.  The red lanterns were to let you know there was alcohol served on the premises.”