I live in Aomori, so there are next to no tourists or foreigners out here. Well, a month ago, i was downtown when there happened to be a giant cruise ship docked at the port, flooding the place with foreign senior couples. I was waiting for a bus at the train station when this guy tried asking in broken English where i am from, assuming I was a passenger of the boat. Nothing suspicious about that, jusy someone being friendly and wanting to use their English (was an English teacher apparently)
We started talking in Japanese for a while, got along, and agreed to go for lunch sometime together in the future. Genuinely, gave off 0 vibes of having ulterior motives.
Well, fast forward to today and we went for ramen. His friend came along, offering to drive us too since it was raining. Why would i say no?
During our long chat today, it was obvious that the "friend" was more charismatic and successful than the person i originally knew. He kinda lead the conversations while the guy i know just sat and listened. Wanted to know my interests and hobbies, personal life… all while avoiding offering his own answers, which was a red flag for me at this point because one-way conversations like this feel like data mining. I only gave vague answers to his questions because he gave off uncomfortable, "i'll agree with whatever you say" vibes while offering no answers of his own.
There was talk about some of the things I've already seen in the region – i've done a fair bit – and as we were about to leave, they asked if i was interested in stopping somewhere for 5 minutes along the way. Told me there was a meditation temple that was along the way between the ramen shop and the mall i asked to be dropped off at.
I had suspicions about their motives at this point but assumed it was an actual temple they wished to show me. Worst case, i knew the area and could walk home. Well, nope, not a temple but it was the house of some creepy, untalkative old dude with a tiny room converted into a shrine at the entrance. As we arrived, my acquaintance pulled out a new prayer book, i declined. Then he tried to hand me prayer beads, showing me how to hold them, and i declined. As i make out 富士　大石寺 on the book cover, I immediately understand the depths of my "how did i get here" failure.
I politely refused to accept/participate in anything and laughed to myself as i see the oh-so-familiar Fuji flyers plastered on the wall and in my new friend's hands, having thrown many in the trash before.
Its clear to me now that my friend himself was recruited by the other person who tagged along with us to Ramen today. I'm grateful for the conversation/Japanese practice 'til now, so there's that.. but a little bummed at the lost opportunity for new, local friends.
by Castle_of_Aaaaaaargh