What was your first part-time job?  My daughter started her first part-time job yesterday.  That made me remember about my first part-time job.

 

I worked at a fried chicken restaurant when I was 17 years old.  It was my first summer after graduating from high school.  It was a pretty boring job, but one thing about it was interesting.  My manager was a Japanese woman.  She was the first Japanese person I ever met in my life!

 

He name was Rika, and she was married to an American man and lived in my town.  I think she was in her 30's at that time.  She spoke English very well, but I could hear her Japanese accent.  I thought it was cute.  If I'm remembering correctly, she was from Nara.  She showed me a photo of her mother in Japan.  She also showed me Japanese stamps and coins.  It all seemed so exotic to me--very far away from my small town in Texas.

 

I had no idea at that time that I would live in Japan for many years.  I had never even imagined that in my future.  I just thought it was interesting to meet someone from a different country.  

 

But my first part-time job was also my first direct contact with Japan, via Rika.