Kaonashi Ga Suki

When I had first moved to Japan (I don’t live there anymore), my parents encouraged me to try and track down a Catholic church so I can continue being a good little Christian. As you may or may not know, the dominant religions in Japan are Shinto and Buddhism, and about only 2% of the country being Catholic. The first Catholic Church I found was quite far, about 2 hours away by train. I’m not about to commute 4 hours every Sunday to attend Mass. Then fortune smiled upon me as my co-workers told me that there was a church only a few minutes’ walk from work! However, they weren’t entirely sure what kind of church it was, so during one of my longer, 90-minute breaks I walked to the church to check it out..

Lo and behold, what do I find when I get there? Not only was it indeed, a Catholic Church, but like all Catholic Churches in the world (from my observations), the place is run by Filipinos! Yes my friends- the humble city of Akabane contains a small Filipino community, as you may have already surmised from my Mr. Lady’s story. I decided to start attending Mass. I can’t remember when I attended Mass (I don’t think it was that same weekend), but I did. It was in Japanese, which I thought was really cool. It wasn’t really a big deal to hear a Mass in a different language. I’ve gone to a Spanish mass before, and what I realized was that if you’re used to the format, you can more or less tell when to sit, stand and kneel.

After Mass I wanted to find out the complete schedule. Hoping to get a copy printed in English, I looked around for someone to help me, and finally I saw a Filipina woman by the door. This is the conversation that transpired.

Me: Excuse me, can you please tell me where I can find out about the Mass Schedule?

Her (looks at me incredulously): Bakit mo akong tinatanong sa Ingles? Di ba Pilipino ka ba? (Why are you asking me in English? You’re Filipino, aren’t you?)

Me (taken by surprise, still speaking in English): Uhhh…yes, but I’m more used to speaking in English.

The conversation ended with her telling me the location of the Mass schedule in Tagalog, and me sheepishly saying “Thank you” in English. Because of this incident and this rude woman, I never returned to that church.

Why was the woman offended that I was speaking English to her? Clearly she can understand it. One possible reason is that when I spoke to her in English, she felt that I was acting snobbish towards her, choosing to speak in supposedly, a language that wasn’t mine. To her, I was being Maarte- a snob, a princess.

Another possible, related reason may be that the woman felt offended because to her, it’s like I’ve turned my back on “my people”. I didn’t consider myself as a Filipina but rather, an American. Perhaps she felt that I’d chosen to distance myself from her and other Filipinos by speaking in English. The truth is, I hardly ever speak Tagalog in the first place. I can more or less understand conversational, casual Tagalog, but I have trouble reading it, and I certainly don’t know a lot of difficult Tagalog words. I can’t watch Filpino news because more than half the time I don’t understand what they’re saying. English is my natural, first language. I think in English and I dream in English. Furthermore, having been in Japan for about 3 months at that point, I was used to speaking either English or my spattering of Japanese; therefore, the first language that would enter my head is either English or Japanese.

It was utterly ridiculous for this woman to assume that I could speak Tagalog in the first place. For example, my younger sister was born and bred in California. She knows a couple of Tagalog words here and there, but she surely can’t carry on a conversation. What if the woman had confronted my sister instead? My sister wouldn’t even have been able to understand the woman’s scathing remark. I’ll bet that woman would have been even more incensed if it were my sister and not me. A Filipino who doesn’t speak Tagalog at all? For shame.