Meet sweet Tian Tian from Hangzhou, near Shanghai visiting Tokyo for the first time, on a 15-day tour of Japan where she is making up her itinerary on a day-by-day basis. This is almost exactly how I started my life in Japan, it was just meant to be a short 2 week stay, but it has turned out to be much more permanent than I ever imagined, actually 20 years exactly in 4 days.
Tian Tian spoke in such perfect American English and just had a sorta California vibe about her that I suspected that she may have spent some time in the States. The Taylor Swift Record she had scored tracked with that suspicion as well, however Tian Tian assured me that she had neither lived in the US, nor ever even visited (though she wished to someday) and that she just had a knack for the language, such a knack in fact (I like the sound of that!) that she actually worked as a Chinese language teacher, specifically for non-native Chinese (I guess you could called it “CSL” – Chinese as a second language.)
After I rattled off the few Chinese expressions I knew, we chatted about the non-native experience of living in China and I asked her what was the main nationality of people in her classes. She had to stop and think about it and replied that there is no overwhelming nationality amongst her students, that they truly hail from all over! That must be so interesting!
Hailing from Hangzhou, near Shanghai, I recommended she check out Uptown Records in Koenji that started off as a shop in Shanghai, run by the well known Sacco who actually HAPPENS to be from California. Uptown Records has many indie and underground Chinese records and I myself am love overdue for a visit.
When I pressed her a bit more about the Taylor Swift record, she admitted that she wasn’t a huge Swiftie and that it was rather a gift meant for a friend. Awe, that’s nice. Still, Tian Tian, you wear it well! Thanks for stopping and chatting me up. Hope you had a great time on your trip and your pal enjoyed her gift. Hopefully, see ya on your next visit to Japan!
More Tokyo Record Style on the way!
