the yakuza?!? oh wait, no...

So today, I finally had the motivation to workout and I get interrupted twice. The first time, I was surprised by my doorbell ringing. Calling out "chotto matte!" (= "wait a sec!") I grabbed a shirt to pull on and went to the door. I peered through the peephole and saw two young men, dressed in all black suits, carrying black leather briefcases. One of them was even wearing a black trench coat, I think. My first thought was...gee, they look like the yakuza. No kidding. But Japan being safe, I decided to open the door a crack. One of the guys reached into his suitcase and pulled out a little pamphlet. My next thought was oh God! Jehovah's Witnesses!! Which was pretty much what slipped out of my mouth. "Are you religious? Jehovah's Witnesses?" All I got were some blank stares from the young men. It occurred to me that from the way they dressed, they could be Mormons. So then I asked "Are you Mormon? Latter Day Saints?" and I got some more blank stares. I explained that I was American and didn't read Japanese much, so I didn't need their pamphlets. Finally, I asked "Are you Christian?" to which they said "ah! yah! Christian!" and nodded vigorously. "I'm not Christian" was my reply, and finally I ended with "have a nice night!"

I figured I got rid of them forever, since they didn't speak any English. Returning to my workout, I mused that I would never find out whether they were Mormon or Jehovah's Witnesses. But, before my workout was over, another doorbell! Surely, not the same people! But yes. One of the young men had returned with a young woman, who was NOT dressed in intimidating yakuza-like all-black. Although she did look nice. Apparently, this young woman speaks some English and so the original young man brought her back to talk to me! "Do you know, Jehovah's Witnsses?" Aha! My first (second?) thought was right. I explained to them that I have relatives who are Jehovah's Witnesses, and I figured that's what they were from their pamphlets, which looked a lot like the Watchtower. Then followed a short discussion on my religious beliefs, how I wasn't raised in Christianity and so find it hard to believe in God, and how I didn't need their pamphlets because I already know about them through my cousin (the last of which is only a half-lie. But I really, really don't want their pamphlets. More paper to sort and tie up and recycle! And I was afraid that the English speaking lady had come back with English Watchtower's and Awake's too). So again, I ended with a have a nice night. I feel vaguely bad about being somewhat curt, and also about the English speaking lady who came from goodness knows where just to talk to the English-only foreigner on the 4th floor. Man, but these people are persistent. And I had no idea there were active Jehovah's Witnesses in Matsuyama. Amazing.

Actually, quite a few people have come door to door to sell their wares, whether religious or not. I got a guy come by the other day to advertise his fortune-telling studio. He tried to read my palm and tell me that I was an emotional person prone to cry while watching TV. He was exceedingly difficult to get rid of! I wonder what is the polite Japanese way to get rid of these ppl--as I figure the American tactic of slamming the door or just saying NO! would be considered overly rude here. Of course, I could just stop opening the door to strangers, but I'm afraid that I'll miss somebody actually important, like the gas company man (he's come by before) or a package delivery man (although those guys are in uniform, so I just have to learn and spot the uniforms) or maybe somebody else I don't know about but who could potentially be important.