Japanese talkers

In my hotel in Zurich, there was a group of Japanese making a lot of noise in the room next to me. They had left their door open. At first I thought they were fighting. But no, they were just talking very loudly. Writers long ago said that the Japanese could control their emotions. But when they talk, they scream.

Three times I went out of my room to see what the commotion was all about. But I just smiled at them. They were so young. I thought somebody would come and scold them, but nobody did.

Then at five o’clock I saw them in the elevator. They were leaving the hotel. Even in the elevator they couldn’t stop talking!

— 31 March 1984