I've never had a bad tally of chatting up girls..
...but only when I'm sober. I'm a sloppy mess when i'm drunk.


That aside, my girlfriend of 4 years is half-Japanese. Her mum's side of the family are all from Japan, and after some encouragement, I was persuaded to learn some basic Japanese. To date, I can only speak very basic conversational formalities, but its nice to be able to say hello and have a simple chat in an unusual language.

Anyway, all this is preamble to a recent epic failure in the world of flirting. I was down in London staying over at my sister's former home in Greenwich the night before flying to America on holiday, and I decided to go out and pick up some food for dinner. I took a wander close to her apartment, before spotting a nice looking little sushi den that had a takeaway sign in the window. Entering, I strode up to the (not at all unattractive) young asian woman stood in full kimono next to the counter, before deciding to impress her with my (not at all impressive) grasp of the Japanese tongue.

My next words were: "Konbanwa, watashiwa nanika tabetai des.."

which roughly translates to "Good evening, I'd like something to eat please" in English.

The girl blankly stared at me, and without skipping a beat replied "I'm Chinese."

The next 20 minutes waiting for my sushi to be prepared were a little awkward.

Length: The Great Wall...
(Winston Kennedy, Thu 18 Feb 2010, 22:12, 3 replies)

I have been there
I know your pain, I have done this exact thing. Trying to chat up a Chinese girl in Japanese is not the right way to go about it.

My Asian-identifying challenged brother, you get a click from me.
(Martin1337 was trying and failing to be funny at, Fri 19 Feb 2010, 7:38, closed)

Bet she wasn't
You were in a Japanese restaurant ffs! She probably just didn't like you.

Have a click anyway, quite embarrasing.
( Scrumper, Fri 19 Feb 2010, 10:39, closed)

I'm surprised
Most of the non-Japanese "Japanese" restaurants in London appear to be run by Koreans.
( Tchmilfan, Fri 19 Feb 2010, 11:00, closed)