Eric's Beijing Diary

Bulu met me at the West Exit of the Shinjuku station last night, and we went to a local restaurant to get a bite to eat. As we were ordering, I noticed that Bulu was talking quite comfortably with the server, a young man who looked to be in his early twenties. I was surprised to see that Bulu's Japanese had increased so well, since he just started studying shortly before he came here last spring. Bulu told me that the server was Chinese. He has met quite a few Chinese people working in restaurants and other places. It seems that they are able to get jobs, because they will work for less than what the average Japanese will accept. Makes me wonder if they are here legally, or functioning somewhat like the Mexicans in the US. And you might wonder why Chinese workers are drawn to Japan when China's own economy is doing so well. But it makes sense, really. Whatever they can save here would be worth quite a bit more when they get back to China.