During my time in Japan, I visited the arcades many times. Whenever I was feeling too poor to play, I'd break out the sketchbook and draw. During one of these "drawing" times, the arcade attendant would come up to me and compliment me on my art. Or at least I thought she was complimenting me - I don't know enough Japanese to discern complimenting from "please refrain from drawing in the arcade." Eventually, I told her I was a foreigner in what little broken Japanese I knew. She spoke a couple more sentences and left. Feeling unsure on how to act, I eventually drew a picture of her in her arcade attendant outfit (which I thought was very cool looking), and gave it to her with a message of English on the back saying thanks for the compliments. She replied with "Oh, I know English!" and proceeded to talk to me in pretty conversational English. It was quite the shock.

Well, in case you're reading, thanks again Ms. Taito arcade attendant for the compliments. If I stop by Japan in the future, I'll be sure to stop by again.