A few weeks ago, I was in a bike shop in Nakano, where I met for the first time a person with Tourette's Syndrome. He was Japanese and worked in the shop.
Japan doesn't have a lot of swear words, to the degree that to call someone baka (stupid) is akin to some of the insults Mick used to deliver to taxi drivers in Bordeaux.
Every ten seconds, this fellow would splurt out, "Ba," "Ba," "Ba," and stop himself before he could add the "ka" and severely insult the customers.
For the first ten minutes or so, it was a strange experience, and then I got used to it, and the "Ba," "Ba," "Ba," just became an accepted non-part of the conversation.
He knew a lot about bikes. And it was good to see that the shop wasn't afraid to let him deal with customers.
Posted by Setsunai at August 18, 2005 8:44 PMNearly missed this one Tom! Still laughing though I know I should not..............
Posted by: mickmcdonagh at September 15, 2005 7:36 PM | Permalink to CommentYou should give the Bike shop a reference - what was its name or web-address ?? Any other decent shops you can think of for quality bikes/parts in Japan ?
Posted by: Matt at September 26, 2005 11:49 PM | Permalink to Comment