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Bizarre Tourist Situation

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mrs_overall | 13:32 Tue 16th Sep 2014 | ChatterBank
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On Sunday afternoon I went with Youngest Junior Overall (air cadet) to a Battle of Britain church service. There were several high ranking RAF officers there and the church was full.
Part way through the service, the church doors opened and in came about a dozen Japanese tourists. They wandered through the church willy nilly, talking loudly, pointing at things and of course taking a zillion photo's. The vicar never faltered for a minute, even when they took it in turns to stand next to him to have their photo taken. They meandered behind the vicar and took a short break by sitting in the empty choir stalls before resuming their sightseeing.
Throughout all this,very singe person at the service kept their eyes firmly fixed on the vicar as if their lives depended on it.
Well.....apart from me. I had to kneel down on the floor cushion thingy and keep my head down as I was crying with laughter.
I am of course in deep trouble with YJO for once again embarrassing him (it is one of the very few perks of having teenagers)
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LOL...LOL....well it WAS Whitby where the "show must go on."

At least the Japanese tourists didn't shout in unison....TORA! TORA! TORA!
... the floor cushion thingy is called a hassock.
Maybe they were looking for Dracula.
I'd give them a Zero for tactfulness.
I'm surprised the vicar and the high ranking allowed it to continue, It would have been different "in my day".
I doubt they were Japanese. They tend to be very polite and respectful. Probably Chinese or Korean. They`re the ones who tend to be herded about in big groups these days whilst being quite "lively"
I'm surprised that the churchwardens allowed them in - in our local churches, the doors are tactfully closed when a service is taking place.
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Obiter - that is the word I was looking for!

Vulcan. would it have been straight outside with them to face the firing squad? ;-)
When I worked we once held a dinner in the National Railway Museum for a group of Japanese business journalists.
Included in the exhibition was Queen Victoria's private railway carriage, it was only after speaking to some of the journalists I realised they thought the figure in the carriage, dressed in Victorian clothes, was actually a preserved Queen Victoria.................strange people the Japanese.
craft.....LOL
We've had similar, but somewhat more thoughtful, behaviour at our church in the centre of Edinburgh during the tourist season. Non-Japanese tourists just look through the glass doors while the service is going on. Japanese ones open them and walk in, walk around, and take photos. However - at least until now - they have kept to the periphery of the sanctuary, and not encroached on the central proceedings.

The High Kirk of Edinburgh, or St Giles (sometimes incorrectly called St Giles Cathedral) avoids this problem by having sufficient staff to monitor the doors during services, and to admit only worshippers.
We were in the Alhambra in Granada in May, unfortunately followed round by a large party of Japanese people. The shrieking and exclaiming was so loud that we couldn't hear our own tour guide....

..and unfortunately it's not only Oriental people who let the side down. We also went to a Buddhist temple, and some people in our group allowed their children to b onto/ sit next to/pose expansively with the statue of the Buddha, not acknowledging at all that it was a holy contemplative place with deep religious significance.
I recall being at a wedding of mixed nationalities. The non- British videographer asked the the Vicar to step to one side during the ceremony to help him get a better shot of the happy couple.......the grey-haired Mafia/grannies were seen hastily reaching for their smelling salts!
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237sj - I would put money on them being Japanese - they come by the coachload in the summer
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Maybe places of worship should start employing bouncers lol
When I used to take parties of schoolchildren to France we would visit the Bayeux Tapestry. I insisted on us being there half an hour before it opened to avoid the Japanese barging there way through everyone, shouting and screaming
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If I was abroad I wouldn't dream of barging in somewhere without knowing what the place was. It was downright rude of them for them to carry on as they did, particularly when the vicar was in full flow.
Afternoon, MrsO....I'm wondering....what if there was a funeral service?.....

Pity you were laughing too much....you could have gone to the door with the collection plate and made a bit out of them.....☺
We were at the top of the Eiger or Jungfrau, can't remember which, a couple of years ago, all togged out on our boots, down jackets, walking poles, etc. There's a sign up there, on the icy plateau, a picture of of a high heel with a cross through it. We all looked at each other and laughed...till we saw the Japanese tourists in their high heels, trying and failing to stay upright on the ice. Quite bizarre.
When my daughter was having her wedding photos taken in Sydney a bus load of "Asian" tourists stopped and they all got out and took photos of the happy couple. Bizarre.

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