While
living in Japan, one of the things that fascinated
me how
shy some of the people were. I had some colleagues
in my
office in Tokyo, who were otherwise
wonderful people,
real professionals,
helpful, kind, and sweet, but they were
incredibly
shy, and I subsequently learned that their
shyness prevented them from
meeting people for dates, and they end up either
living single their whole lives or
get married through what is known as omiai or
arranged date (though the world literally translates
as see and meet).
While
the other day I was hanging out with a bunch of
Japanese friends they introduced me to the Train Man
movie (Densha Otoko in Japanese) which chronicles
the adventures of an otaku (a type of a person in
Japan who is typically considered very weird because
they have an
obsession of some kind, including computers,
video games, Internet,
certain types of music, etc.). Most of them are
very
shy and their only interaction with women is either
of their own kind or with
waitresses and
hostesses in
cafes
and
restaurants that are targeted at them, for instance,
those that feature
girls dressed like maids or like some
anime
character. The main character in this movie actually
meets a normal girl and contrary to his expectation she
is cool with his being a social
outcast and loves to hang out with his friends in
Akihabara, the Tokyo neighborhood full of
electronics shops and
geeks who love them. This short clip from the film
shows how
socially inept these guys are and how awkward they
are in the company of a very
cute Japanese woman. |
