72 year old Nobu Chisai’s usual day at the bank was turned wildly upside-down yesterday when a visibly non-Japanese man used an ATM inside the branch where he works.
The part-time security official’s regular routine of shouting out barely-comprehensible random greetings, gratitude, and not much else came to a halt as a western man took his place in line. Knowing full well that a crime of some description could be taking place, Chisai make his presence known by coughing loudly in the bank customer’s ear when he was waiting in line, withdrawing money, and leaving the building. He also breathed stale coffee onto the back of the customer’s neck during the transaction as he tried to peer onto the screen.
“There have been many “It’s me” scams and money laundering operations going on in our society,” said the elderly employee as he brushed imaginary fluff off his flimsy looking epaulettes. “And while local gangs are entirely to blame for this, I couldn’t rule out the possibility that a regular customer coming in on a payday was up to no good. Therefore, I had to let him know that I had eyes on him. Who knows? Perhaps he’ll think twice about withdrawing his hard-earned money again. Whatever the case, I’m sure that the big boys in Marunouchi appreciate my diligence.”
Upon arriving home and sitting down for his dinner, Chisai remarked to his wife that his day had been “a struggle” due to the western customer coming in. His wife nodded and responded that there were a lot of foreigners around these days. With that acknowledgment of the world changing around them, the pair ate their meal in silence… fearful silence… a silence that could be broken at any time by news of a foreigner doing something… in an area that they’ve heard of… in Japan.
