"HAI"

I was on the phone with America the other day when my doorbell rang. I don't get that many visitors at the cottage (as I like to refer to my cozy, little apartment), so I asked my friend to to wait a minute as I answered the door. It was a delivery from Apple (Japan AppleCare = amazing, btw.... they pick up and delivery for free).

Anyways, I was still in the middle of the conversation with my American friend so I asked them to wait while I signed for the box. When I got back on the phone, my friend was laughing so I asked what was up. "You're the Asian lady from MadTV!," they squealed.


"eeeeeh?"


If you aren't familiar with the show, MadTV is a spin-off of the satyrical, serialized comic called MAD. I remember the comic from when I was a kid (the boy on the cover looks like a hybrid of David Letterman and Danny Bonaduce), but the show has been running on the Fox Network for quite some time now. I would probably best compare the short skits to a less-refined (but still very funny) version of Saturday Night Live.


Anyways, one of the popular reoccuring characters on the show is also this pushy Asian lady who can't speak English well and yells at people. One of her trademarks (characteristics) is the fact that she says, "yes" ALL the time.


And, yup, that is who I reminded my friend of... basically due to the fact that I apparently said "yes" almost every other second (or hai, actually) when I am using Japanese. The funny thing is that I don't think that is a bad thing, and was a bit surprised when I started defending the stereotype (and laughing at myself) rather than being shocked by it. You might not notice it until you come to Asia, but the Japanese people really will answer a question (or merely show they understand what you are saying) by chanting hai, hai, hai (basically a string of YESs). The trait's been there for a while; it's just gotten deeper. A few months after I first came to Japan, one of my friends asked me when I had become a New Yorker because I was acknowledging stuff with a quick "yeah, yeah, yeah"). Then I realized my coworkers do the same thing, only in Japanese, and one English teacher that I talk to a lot uses the "NYC-style" English version all the time.


Anyways, thought I would share another little cultural observation. I can definitely see them making a Seinfeld or Curb episode out of this stuff .. but I'll just leave it at this ;)