AN EVENING AT THE OSAKA CHINESE GENERAL CONSULATE

Just returned from Osaka after an evening party at the Chinese General Consulate.

The invitees were university personnel working on foreign student issues.

As I see it, the Chinese General Consulate aimed to extend some goodwill to these personnel with regards to Chinese students studying at Japanese universities in West Japan.

Had reached Osaka early so as to visit the Dotonburi area, the place to cruise while in Osaka.

Was walking in the heat and my 'sepek' eyes almost shot out of their sockets upon seeing a high school uniformed student, sitting on a bench, baring her thighs to reveal her white-colored panties...

Heeeeeeeeeehhhhhhh...

Ordinarily, I would have howled... and howled...

But no no, not in 30 over degrees of mid summer heat... *puff... puff...*

Besides, Dotonburi is the place 'to go to see and be seen'...

And skeptical me... I suspected that she might just be fishing for some 'kind hearted goondoo uncle' to take her bait and 'supplement' her pocket money...

So, continue to walk, walk... see, see...

Then...

Was surprised to see the consulate heavily surrounded by policemen in bulletproof vests...

They asked for my identification...

Wooohh... no play play business ok...

Understandably, they were there to make sure that the ultra-rights behaved themselves while we feasted on the juicy dumplings and drank old Chinese wine...

I expected to be incognito at the party...

Out of the hundred over people, I knew only three...

One lady from Ryukoku University, one Chinese guy who was my junior at Nagoya University, and the chief administrator at Kagawa University...

The Consul took time and pain to explain the aching relationship between China and Japan.

Indirectly and diplomatically, he was urging the Japanese to apologize to China.

I took notes of his rather interesting 30-minute speech delivered in almost perfect, non-accented Japanese...

Impressed I was...

The Japanese professor from Kyoto University, who returned the speech, deftly evaded the issue.

I was bored to the core...

Well, we were there to enjoy the evening and to gorge at the delicious Peking delicacies, not to make an argument that does not seem to have immediate answers...

So, what better thing to do but to mingle around... ogle a bit... and pick on the morsels?

Of all the goodies, the mizu-gzoya (mini soup-dumplings?) was simply superb...

Had expected an uneventful episode but ended up spending a useful evening collecting a bunch of name cards while expanding my network of connections...

Next trip... Ehime University on 1st August

Next-next trip... University of British Vancouver, University of Victoria, and Simon Fraser University from 14th to 20th August...

Next-next-next trip... balik kampong probably from 23rd August to early September...

Heeeeeee...