#include(!) ---- #contents ---- *Thai males, and other 'Golden Week' happenings 1995.05.21 Shukan Taishu 5/29 Buoyed by the surging value of the yen against other currencies, Japan- ese travelers stampeded overseas in record-breaking numbers during this year's "Golden Week." Between April 28 and May 7, some 184,400 Japan- ese left the country for vacations acroad. And, remarks Shukan Taishu cynically, once again they showed the world that the term "Ugly Japanese" is no exaggeration. "I don't tell Japanese OLs (female office workers) not to go to the beaches at Phuket or Pattaya," grumbles a Japanese journalist who is based in Bangkok. "But what I do tell them is to change planes right at the airport and go to those places directly on their own. Instead, they go into Bangkok and hunt down some good-looking Thai male, who will take them there and give them the royal treatment." The source of these available males are host clubs in Bangkok, establish- ments that post photos of their employees and let the female clientele pick the one they like. The OLs pay a per diem fee of 500 baht (about 1'750 yen) to the club. Including transport, hotel fees and meals, it costs a cus- tomer about 10'500 yen a day to secure such services. In exchange for "satisfying" service in bed, Shukan Taishu report, these grateful Japanese wormen reward the gigolos with articles of expen- sive cothing or accessories. Meanwhile at the same beach resorts, middle-aged Japanese men can be seen in large numbers enjoying the affections of young Thai women. According to n employee of a Japanese trading firm based in Bangkok, a customer who showed up at a hostess bar on May 1 seeking female com- pany found that virtually the entire stook of women had been bought out by **タイ人ホスト買い漁る日本人オンナどもーッ four groups of Japanese males who preceded him, and that none of the employees were expectde back until May 5. Many of the Thai women, however, profess to dislike Japanese cus- tomers, not only because of their vulgar behavior, but because, increasing- ly, they refuse to use condoms. But the eccentric behavior of Japanese travelers is not limiled to their sexual appetites. Shukan Taishu reports they display an astonishing lack of common sense in other matters as well. Two female college students attempting to leave Narita Airport on a flight to Guam were halted by immigration when they realized they had forgotten their passports. "Well shuck," they exclaimed. "We didn't have to carry a passport when we flew down to Yoron Island (in Japan's Kagoshima Prefecture)!" More light comedy: ・On a flight to Australia, just after takeoff the head of a contingent of Japanese agricultural exeperts was asked in English by the flight attendant if he preferred tea or coffee. His reaction was to reach into his pocket and offer her his passport. When the other members of the group saw what he did, they all followed suit - while the embarrassed stewardess stood in the aisle with two pots of steaming liquid. ・When an elevator operator at a Paris hotel greeted his female Japanese guests, they burst into a torrent of giggles, saying, "Look, he's actually speaking in French!" ・In an attempt at humor that fell flat, a Japanese-speaking guide at the Museum of Antiquities in Cairo jokingly told a group of Japanese that the sarcophagus of one particular pharaoh had been discovered by Aiko Gibo, a Japanese clairvoyant. They reacted as if his pronouncement was true. ・During a visit to a chamber vault within one of the pyramids at Giza, a mixed tour was interrupted by a burst of Osaka-accented Japanese exclaim- ing. "This is nothing but a bunch of rocks. All we do is walk. I'm pooped out!" He was soundly hushed by the Americans and Europeans on the tour. "I was never so ashamed of being Japanese in my whole life," remarked another person on the tour. ・A group of middle-aged Japanese women sat about in a Taiwan restau- rant and exchanged negative remarks about the ill manners of the Taiwan- ese - in the presence of many Taiwan natives who appeared to understand every word being said, and who responded with angry glares. If Japanese are going to act like such fools when they go abroad, Shukan Taishu suggests, perhaps the name "Golden Week" should be changed to "Week of National Shame." (MS) *【日本語訳】タイ人ホスト買い漁る日本人オンナどもーッ *元資料 &blankimg(19950521.jpg) ---- *関連ページ #related()