A Little Mystery in a City

Text: Jean ARDANT (France)

Soon after I came to Japan, I arranged to meet my Japanese friend at a coffee shop near a large train station. I saw a young girl distributing plastic-wrapped packs to people walking by in front of the station. I was curious as to what was inside them. As I wanted to get one, I walked slowly toward the girl, but she looked away and ignored me.

Looking back at her, I saw her continuing to distribute the pack with a smile to a passerby who came by after me. But he didn’t take it and ignored her instead. After taking a closer look, I found there were some who took the pack, and others who didn’t. As I walked on wondering about it, another girl who was distributing plastic-wrapped packs came into view.

I took more and more interest in the situation and walked by the girl, but she didn’t offer a pack to me. I was offended by this. She gave it to Japanese but not to me. I wondered whether it was because I am a foreigner. If so, I must be being discriminated against. When I met my f r i e n d a t t h e coffee shop, I told he r about i t . She said that the girl was distributing packs of tissue paper.

She also told me that an advert was either printed on the pack or inserted inside it. The reason I was not offered a pack by the girls was because the company sponsoring the advert was not promoting itself to foreigners. Now I understand. Some days later, when I had a cold, I happened to see someone distributing packs of tissue paper. Since I inevitably wanted one, I stretched out my hand. Then, she gave it to me with a smile. What a nice country!

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