By: Steve Patterson
Submitted: 2010-04-23 15:41:20 | Word Count: 535
I remember he came into the store with his mom and I remember that it was a Friday because that’s the day we drop prices at the electronics store that I work at. It’s not a great job but it pays well and most of my friends work at the same store so time passes quickly. My name is Sayuri and I live in Tokyo, Japan. With so many electronics everywhere, I have become im-mune to the bombardment of technology and aside from my laptop and a cell phone, I don’t pay much attention to the latest, fastest, digital, electronic anything anymore. I know this seems odd because I work at a store that sells only electronics and computers, but it’s the way it is. I am a girl after all and I have other interests. I like shopping for shoes, going out to the arcade with my friends and watching Western movies at the cinema. I’ll leave electronics to everyone else.
I remember when he walked in because he was with his mother and neither of them were Japanese or Asian mainland for that matter. I thought they were American but he told me later that he was from Canada. Like many tourists, he was looking for electronics in Tokyo. I wasn’t helping him but my close friend Tayamari was assisting him and his mother--they were interested in purchasing a DVD player and he seemed very excited about a particular model. I wasn’t helping anyone at the time and I was just gossiping with another co-worker. It was just another day for us. Most likely I would have not remembered this incident at all except that he came back during the end of the work day and asked me if I wanted to go for ice pearl tea with him. I said yes, naturally. It is not everyday that a Japanese girl gets asked out by a tall boy with green eyes.
Ben and I met after work and because he didn’t know his way around town, I took him to a nice but lively place my friends and I often go to for snacks and tea. We started talking and I learned that Ben was here in Tokyo with his mother for the summer before he started university in the fall. He was going to be studying engineering at a university in Toronto. “You must be really interested in engineering,” I said however he didn’t respond and was silent for a while before changing the subject.
We mad
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e small talk after that. I asked about his purchase earlier, a DVD player his mother bought for him to take to university, and he told me how life is in Canada. I talked about growing up in Tokyo and he asked a lot of questions about why I didn’t find electronics and technology interesting. We got along very well and after we finished our tea, I asked him if he wanted to come to the arcade with my friends and I. “Yeah, of course,” was his reply so we spent the rest of the evening with my friends at the arcade playing games and laughing at Ben try the different games.
