My Japanese home stay family and my burqa?!

The day of my meeting with the home stay family came.　We decided to meet at the station. Then the mother would take me by car to her home. In order to be recognized, she told me that she would be wearing a red hat. I told her that I would be wearing a black coat. I thought that being a foreigner with my every day black coat can’t be missed in a small town! However, given I am Muslim, my Japanese mother imagined that “black coat” means “black burqa”, like she saw them on TV!

I was few minutes earlier. I saw her coming with her red hat. I waved to her with my hand but she seems to be so absorbed in her thought (or perhaps worries J) that she didn’t notice me! When I was close enough to her, I called her “いさん,　いさん ファドワですよ！！”. Finally she noticed my existence!!

We had a nice chat on our way. She is communicative woman. I immediately felt easiness to speak to her. Upon arriving, she introduced me to her husband and daughters. We talked a lot! Only after deeper acquaintance, my Japanese mother told me that I look normal. “Look normal”? I asked her surprised how she was expecting me to look like. That moment, I knew that my Japanese family had not been well informed that there are different Islamic branches, conservative ones as well as liberal ones. She laughed when I told her that I am sorry to disappoint her since she was expecting a more "exotic" visitor.

I discovered that my Japanese family had borrowed books about Tunisia. They seemed to be studying them. My Japanese mother showed me Bourguiba’s picture and told me: “The book says that he is your hero!” Surprise, surprise, this is exactly the person who is responsible of making me look "normal" to her! To be continued…