Snow White's Brothel

The guys teeth were missing. The ones he did have were all black and yellow with a filed down look as if he had been chewing on rocks. He put his hand to his mouth and made a cock sucking motion and in his best English said, "Suck, suck." The look on my face must been a complete horror show, but I mustered up the courage to ask in my best Japanese, "How much?" He didn't understand. I tried again but no response. I didn't have enough money to blow on blow jobs anyways so I waved my hand in a 'no' gesture and walked away.

I sometimes think about what those girls up there might of looked like. The maddening curiosity that I have now about the type of girls he was pimping based on those teeth should of been enough for me to say, "Fuck it. We're doing this."

I was living in Mie for one week when I had my first holiday. I had little money and nothing to do. I had been living in Osaka with my brother previously for one month, job searching and partying like crazy. The night before I left we had an awesome sayanora, good bye, party with all you can eat meat and karaoke. My Japanese friend had come along who I had met at a party for forienger people to mingle with Japanese or vice versa. We had a great time together and finally hooked up the night of the good bye party going to a love hotel. 

The sex was a bit tough on my cock. I hadn't anticipated the small size of Japanese condoms and had to pull and squeeze into that thing pretty roughly. By the time I got it on I was completely limp. We got on with it though and eventually it all worked out.

I left the next day right in the peak of the cherry blossom season taking the Kintetsu train from Osaka to Yokkaichi. I found the job through craigslist in Japan. The interview process had been a Skype interview with a guy living in California who had worked at the school a few years back.

When I arrived I was picked by the current teacher in his little pick up truck. We drove to the apartment through the city I would call home for the next 2 years. Riding in the car the guy seemed pretty nice, but as with all things in Japan looks can be decieving. 

He would jet off after work leaving me alone in the apartment or sit in my soon to be room playing computer games. One night I plugged in my laptop to watch a movie. I was confronted with the dilemma of unplugging the TV or the internet. I did the best I could find the source of each plug but unplugged the internet. Suddenly a barrage of cursing came out the room, apparently he was online gaming. He never mentioned it or said anything to me directly. He was very passive aggressive. 

Once the week of training was over he packed his truck and took off. I never saw or heard from him again. I was alone in a new country, new town, new apartment, new job and little understanding of the language. 

Each day I would venture out to explore this new place to quickly make it old. I was low on money and needed to exchange some traveler's checks. In the city it was no problem, except the exchange rate was terrible at the time. 1 dollar for 85 yen, roughly. In the country it was a bit more difficult. I went to one bank, but they denied my request and gave me a map to the main branch where to could do an exchange. I went there in the main city center where the main train station is located. 

The country train is an amazing and beautiful experience. Standing on the degraded platform in the spring sun waiting for the old train that comes twice an hour. On that platform for the first time, unprepared for the waiting, quickly learning to write down the arrival times and memorizing them by heart. 

In the heart of Yokkaichi I found the main branch of the bank to exchange my money. I was barraged with plenty of questions - 

Who are you?
What are you doing here?
What do you need money for?
Why do you want to exchange here?

Luckily enough the man behind the counter could understand how to use a dictionary to translate from Japanese to English. When I couldn't speak in Japanese he began writing out the questions from his dictionary for me to answer. The only answer besides my name was, "たべもの。おなかが空いた。" Which translates to, "Food. I'm hungry.' It wasn't a lie. I needed money for food because I was hungry. After he understood this he decided to exchange my traveler's checks and sent me on my way. 

Looking for food, a place to buy food or eat food, I walked through the shopping arcade. The arcade has two or three pachinko parlors, some expensive restaurants and a few boutique stores near the station. I didn't exchange very much and needed it to last until my first pay day so the expensive restaurants were out of the question. I walked deeper into the rabbit hole to find nothing but darkness and despair. Small shops holding on to life somehow, most shops used just for storage and most with big metal shutters over the entrance. You see this a lot in small Japanese towns. It's the Walmart effect similar to America, a giant shopping center comes to town and puts all the small businesses out of business.

Down and out one of the sides I came across a park. A very nice yet dirty park. There was a fountain that wasn't on, some playground equipment for the kids and a police box at the end. I walked around the park to the other side where there was a street. I walked down the sidewalk and from the distance saw a sign with Snow White sitting with the seven dwarfs eating a meal. Aha! At last, a place to rest my tired legs and eat. I walked up to the doorway to find a menu and Surprise! A man with no teeth appears before my eyes trying to usher me up the stairs. 

I never went back there, I probably never will. A little place in this world that exists or did exist, maybe it's not there anymore or maybe it is. Regardless if it's there or not, I hope that poor man finally fixed his teeth. Hygiene is important.