Cherry blossom season reminds us of Japan and the people we shared a house with for a short time.

We love meeting new people during our travels.  Some are nice, some are interesting, but most are “regular” folks.  At least on the surface, that is. Well, maybe you need to look a little deeper next time you meet an ordinary looking elderly couple; they might have a story or secret to tell you. Every now and then, you meet some extraordinary characters that leave an impression on you, but rarely in your travels will you find them concentrated in one place with an opportunity to find out some of their stories.

The bar was set rather high for us in a small guest house in the suburbs of Tokyo almost 40 years ago.  We haven’t found such an interesting and eclectic assortment of characters since then,  although Quartzsite may be a good contender to the title.

Yoshida house was a Gaijin (foreigner) house in Nerima suburb of Tokyo on the Ikebukuru Rail Line.  It was affordable and we were lucky to get a room as it was usually full.  We stayed there for a couple of months, but there were others there that were long-time residents, and some of them were real characters.

Most of the memories that we have from those few months in Japan are centred around the characters that we met, and we couldn’t have made these odd and quirky people up if we tried.  Here is a snapshot of life in Yoshida House and it’s residents as we experience it.  We left the best for last, so make sure to read to the end.

The Japanese Hero:

Hiro Yoshida was the owner of a couple of travelers’ houses in the suburbs of Tokyo.  He was the kindest man you’ll ever meet and went out of his way to create a great Japanese experiences for his guests.  He held parties and cherry blossom picnics for his guests, and was just thoughtful and gentle all the time.  Yes, it was a business and he had a small family to support, but he did practice random acts of kindness before it was a thing.

The Israeli lover:

David, was one of our favourite people and a life-long friend since then and until his untimely death a few years ago.  We met him in the Philippines while working as extras on a movie set and then again in Japan.  He left a trail of broken hearts, at times his own, wherever he went.  In Yoshida House he tutored a young Japanese girl and was growing increasingly fond of her, and she of him.  Until…

The Jealous Iranian:

We don’t remember anything else about this guy other than the fact, that he had feelings for the same Japanese girl.  The Israeli Lover opened his door one afternoon and was surprised to be on the receiving end of a punch in the face.  The jealous Iranian was never seen again and I think that the tutoring stopped abruptly after this unfortunate event.  Hiro may have had something to do with this.

The Odd Dodd:

This Brit, B. Dodd, did not socialize with anyone and no one wanted to share a room with him.  You could rent private rooms in Yoshida House, but there were a few dorm rooms that were cheaper and many of the solo travelers opted for those.  Mr Dodd had a limited diet of mayo sandwiches and onions, the onions were kept under his bed for some reason.  There was a pungent odour that followed him –  and by extension –  whoever shared a room with him.  He literally never talked to anyone, so I can’t tell you anything else about him.

The American Inventor:

Jerry from California was one of the older guys – he was probably in his 40s at the time from and most of us 20-something year olds looked up to him.  He’s been to many places and had some cool stories to tell, so he found an outlet for his love of storytelling (and music), by rigging a small radio station at Yoshida house.  He would broadcast his music and commentary to the unsuspecting guests at unpredictable times of the day.  He was a cool and creative inventor.

The Lost Canadian:

Andy was mugged the same day he arrived in the Philippines from Canada.  He lost all of his money on his first day of travel.  He managed to get some money wired to him, made his way to Japan, and taught English until he had enough money saved to continue his travels.  Andy now lives in Japan, has a family and has an English school of his own.  You just never know what turn of events will shape your future.  No matter how bad they may be.

 The Israeli Smuggler:

G was an entrepreneur and a smuggler.  He always had some business venture going on and he could set you up with all sorts of gigs in Tokyo.  He would give people advice as to what kind of things they should smuggle into Korea and where to sell them.  This was before South Korea was a participant in global economy and western products were scarce.  You could buy a simple camera in Japan and sell it in Korea for 5-10 times the cost.  For many travelers, this was a way to finance their travels and G was the go-to person for such advice. As we later found out, he was making his money smuggling some other things.

The one-armed Brit:

E.  was born with one arm and was allergic to everything.  She was mild-mannered, pleasant, and seemed innocent enough.  Really, you wouldn’t think of her as anything else, but a nice, slightly boring girl.  We later found out that she smuggled drugs for G in her prosthetic arm.  What?

My Canadian Doppelganger:

Sheila was nice girl from Alberta.  Since I wasn’t able to travel to China at the time with my Israeli passport, she generously offered me hers, saying that we kind of look alike.  I was very tempted, but stopped by people with sounder minds than me, i.e. Tony.  Talking about turn of events, we sometimes wonder what would have happened if I took that offer.  Maybe we would be writing about the inside of a Chinese jail instead.

The Paranoid German:

Otto was the top of the crop! He clearly had some issues, or did he?  One day he cornered us in the kitchen where he kept his dry sardines – yes, another one with superior culinary tastes – and asked us to call the Israeli embassy to help him.   He said that he exposed a Nazi ring and they were trying to kill him.  He seemed desperate. We had no idea what to do and how to react, so shamefully, we did nothing.  After that he would hide in his closet where he kept a ham radio and only come out occasionally to eat sardines in the communal kitchen.

One day he disappeared, and we started to think that perhaps there was some truth to the Nazi story.  Several weeks later, Hiro received a phone call from Malaysia. Otto was on the line asking him to ship his radio to Malaysia.  I think that this was the limit for Hiro’s generosity.  I don’t know if he ever did, or why Otto ended up in Malaysia.  There may have been Nazis involved.

Good times!

We met many other people during our travels; some were interesting, some we just didn’t find out about their symbolic prosthetic arms.

Each one of these people was a character within their own rights, but to have an assortment of them in such a small space over such a short period of time was something that we were not able to replicate ever since.  Some of them may be rotting in jail, or in an asylum, but most went on to have perfectly regular lives.  Most of them, if they survived, would be in their 60s or 70s now, and some probably ended up RVing.  HEck, one of them could be reading this post right now.

Just remember next time you talk to the innocent looking old guy in the RV parked next to yours.  He might have a story that will blow your solar panels off.

Did you meet any memorable characters in your travels?

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