En 1986 in Argentina, I was nineteen years old, and I had to do my military service in the Regiment of Mounted Grenadiers, which was in charge of standing guard dressed in period clothing (as soldiers dressed in the 1800s during the wars for independence) in front of the Casa Rosada (presidential house) and parading on horseback through the city to commemorate some national anniversary. During the daily marching practice in the regiment, they made us carry the saber, which was heavy by the way. One morning, after finishing the marching practice, we waited seated behind the warehouse where they collected the sabers to store them. Next to me sat a boy of Japanese descent, the only one among the hundred of us in the squadron. This serves as a reference to visualize that in the “melting pot” that is Argentina, the mix is not even. At that time, there were few Chinese and Korean immigrants, if any, but there were some Japanese, who generally set up dry cleaners. Seeing this fellow with his typical Japanese features and the sword, I said to him smiling, "Hey, samurai!", to which the guy with an angry face replied with a perfect Argentine accent, "Hey, pelotudo1!" At that moment I didn't understand why he didn't find my joke funny, but I did find his answer funny, so I didn't take it the wrong way.
Many years later, in 2007, I had already been living in Barcelona, Spain, for six years. After five years as an illegal immigrant, I had already gotten married and obtained residency. Before I came, still in Argentina, some South American who had gone through the experience had already made me aware of the discrimination one has to suffer here from certain people and, as everywhere, it is known that human beings, like their best friend the dog, suffer from a marked territorial instinct, hence sometimes even unconsciously the “Are you Argentine?” has something of a territorial piss. At that time I attended a course on numerical control of machine tools in Barcelona. In the first class the teacher picked up on my accent when I asked a question and smiling said to me: Argentine? My answer was spontaneous: “No, I am Japanese.”
©2024 - Walter Alejandro Iglesias