Seven or eight minutes before 5 p.m., the silver Toyota Crown car had almost arrived at its destination.
In the southeast of Ota-ku, Tokyo, there is a commercial street facing a broad road lined with several "pachinko" shops, prize redemption shops and consumer loan companies.
In Japan, there are currently more than 10,000 "Pachinko" shops, and more than 70% of them are run by Koreans and Koreans in Japan.
So anyone who knows a little bit about this area will see that this is a place that uses pachinko machine entertainment to attract customers and engage in disguised gambling.
You should know that they have already reached the territory of the Koreans in Japan or the Koreans in Japan.
This is almost common sense in living in Japan.
However, the car did not stop here. After passing "Pachinko", it turned into a side alley.
Immediately, a row of shops with signboards in both Japanese and Korean came into Ning Weimin's eyes.
On this street, the characteristics of the Korean nation are even more obvious.
The shop signs are either "Pyongyang" or "Panmunjeom", or "Myeongdong" or "Blue House".
But this place is not like the commercial street outside, with a unified archway and street lights. The dilapidated and old buildings seem to have never been repaired.
Dozens of small restaurants are crowded together, many sharing a bathroom.
In broad daylight, drunken Korean singing accompanied by the smell of boiled pig intestines could be heard coming from small restaurants on the roadside.
The narrow, winding and extremely irregular streets can often only be passed by one person, and garbage can be seen everywhere behind the dilapidated iron houses.
In short, it looks like a "shantytown" where the poor at the bottom live.
The overall lack of planning, narrow roads, messy layout has become a congenital disease, and public facilities are also seriously insufficient.
All of this makes it hard to believe that you are in Japan, a unique country within a country.
This is the only remaining part of what was once called "Koreatun" by local residents in the past, and it is also the only remaining Korean settlement in Ota District today.
On the way here, Matsumoto Keiko had revealed her identity as a Korean expatriate to Ning Weimin.
She also told him that the restaurant she went to today was very close to her childhood home and school.
So after finally parking the car, Matsumoto Keiko took the initiative to continue to act as a tour guide as an aborigine and introduced the situation here to Ning Weimin in detail, which became natural.
According to Keiko Matsumoto, in 1959, the number of Korean and Korean expatriates in Japan reached 590,000.
By 1985, including the Koreans who became Japanese citizens, the total number would exceed three million.
Compared with the few hundred thousand Chinese expatriates in Japan at this time, the total number and proportion of Korean and Korean expatriates in Japan were much higher.
Therefore, compared with the only two Chinatowns in Yokohama and Kobe where Chinese people in Japan are relatively concentrated, the areas where Korean and Korean expatriates live are dotted all over the place.
Inhabited areas like this exist in various forms in almost all larger cities in Japan.
There is also a Spicy Cabbage Yokocho Street in Ueno, Tokyo, which is also an area where North Koreans gather.
The earliest residents of "Koreatun" were actually a group of Koreans and Koreans who came to Japan to work as laborers.
Around 1948, they were unwilling to return to the country and were driven here. The government tacitly allowed them to build their own houses and live together.
Over the years, the Korean and Korean people living here have not only obtained land and house ownership, but also obtained permanent residence status.
But he always maintained his own lifestyle.
Through the self-governing associations, Korean schools and other institutions in their residential areas, they reflect their obvious national characteristics.
Although many people living here only speak Japanese, they still have a strong sense of belonging to the governments of South Korea and North Korea.
But people here are also very concerned about "originality".
Although North and South Korea coexist peacefully, they never interact too much.
Matsumoto Keiko also taught Ning Weimin a way to identify North Korean restaurants and Korean restaurants.
It is said that the barbecue restaurants here are unique. A small number of the shops are run by "Korean people in Japan" and the rest are owned by "Korean people in Japan".
If the shop sign says "Korean Cuisine", the shop owner should be from Korea.
If these four words are not written, they are all from North Korea.
She even secretly told Ning Weimin a secret unknown to outsiders.
It is said that a branch of the legendary organization "Chongryon" in Japan is located behind the small supermarket on this street.
Since this is a place that the Japanese are unwilling to set foot in, only the Koreans and Koreans living here have known about it for many years.
To be honest, Ning Weimin didn't really care about this matter.
He is neither Japanese nor a spy ordered to lurk, so why is he bothering to think about such political matters?
On the contrary, I didn't want to get into trouble because of this, and completely gave up the idea of going to the small supermarket to buy a pack of cigarettes.
What he was really worried about was that the two of them were incompatible with the noisy and chaotic environment here, and whether there would be any safety concerns.
You know, this is a poor place where fish and dragons are mixed together, filled with smoke and alcohol.
At first glance, the people who hang out here are mainly blue-collar workers and small traders, and there are also many people who make money from side jobs.
The fact that they parked their car here was enough to attract a lot of attention.
Not to mention that Matsumoto Keiko is still wearing such elegant clothes and looks so beautiful.
Today, she was holding a silver Prada handbag, a silk scarf on her head, and sunglasses. She looked even more eye-catching after stepping out of the car.
Not only did the two young men and women who had been whispering at the door of the cold food shop suddenly fell silent.
The three stevedores sitting in the back of the truck waiting to work also stopped talking.
Especially at the door of a massage parlor, there were two men who looked like Yakuza who had just come out.
When they saw Matsumoto Keiko, they were like dogs seeing meat and bones.
He couldn't help but take the cigarette butt from his mouth, spit on the ground, put his hands on his shiny back, and followed directly.
Ning Weimin was really worried about what trouble he would cause.
With his body and bones, he has no chance of being a hero here.
But I didn't expect that he was actually worrying about things in vain.
Because after all, Matsumoto Keiko is also of Korean descent and is a part of the people who once lived here.
She soon began to greet people in the surrounding shops in fluent Korean.
The people she talked to were all permanent residents here, and when they saw her, they all smiled and greeted her.
At first glance, he looked like an acquaintance.
Even the two Yakuza who were following the two thieves were stopped by an old woman who was collecting garbage at the entrance of the store, raised a broom, and then chased them away with a squawk.
The fierce look on his face probably gave them a stern warning not to make bad plans or get close to Matsumoto Keiko.
So Ning Weimin breathed a sigh of relief.
According to his understanding, Keiko Matsumoto's status here is probably similar to that of himself in Shan'er Hutong.
Even if a criminal gang came to kidnap someone, it would be useless.
For example, if he were in Shan'er Alley, he could scream out loud in the whole alley.
Don't even talk about getting started at that point.
Just a few hundred people, using broomsticks, dirty soil basins and tractor boards under their feet, can crush a group of people to death in an alley.
This is the benefit of being at home, the advantage of home court.
Ning Weimin followed Matsumoto Keiko silently, looking at her slender back that showed off her feminine charm, and was thinking like this.
Suddenly, Matsumoto Keiko turned around, smiled at Ning Weimin, and then pointed to the street corner on the right.
Matsumoto Keiko had a child-like expression on her face. Following the direction of her finger, Ning Weimin saw a barbecue restaurant called "Jin's House".
The red and blue lanterns "Korean Cuisine" hung in the store really showed the boss's background.
The store's facade is not too big, so you can walk by it accidentally, but the space inside the store is okay.
A few tables were set up at the door.
Go inside, go down a few steps, and you'll find a larger space with more than a dozen tables.
Because there was still some time before the actual meal, there were only a few guests.
The shopkeepers and his wife are also acquaintances of Keiko Matsumoto, a diligent and capable couple in their fifties.
In particular, the landlady was so kind when she saw Keiko Matsuzaka, and even addressed her differently. She told the boss in surprise.
"Master, come here quickly and see who is here? It's Han Qingzi."
This made Ning Weimin suddenly realize that this was probably Matsumoto Keiko's real name.
What is a bit surprising is that there are private rooms in the store.
The shop owner asked his wife to take them directly to a small room at the end.
This is the only room with a ventilated window for better smoke exhaust.
The warm yellow light cast a faint oily sheen on the large wooden table that could seat six people.
"Lady boss, let's have two beers first."
Keiko Matsumoto asked for a drink before she even sat down, looking very excited.
"You're driving." Ning Weimin couldn't help but remind her.
"It's okay, you can find a driver."
Keiko Matsumoto glanced at the landlady again and said, "If that doesn't work, you can leave the car here. Let's take a taxi back. Is it okay?"
The landlady smiled and nodded repeatedly.
"No problem. If you leave the car here, I'll ask the owner to drive it to the yard later."
In this way, Ning Weimin would not be able to do anything to spoil the fun and say anything in person.
He really didn't expect that Keiko Matsumoto would actually ask for a drink.
Logically speaking, if a woman goes on a date with a man she is not familiar with, offers to drink, and takes the man to a place she thinks is worth remembering, it usually means that she has let down her guard.
This is enough to give men hints and leaves a lot of room for imagination and play.
However, when the matter came to a close, he did not dare to make any rash judgment.
Because he liked the current feeling so much that he couldn't help but be careful, for fear of acting rashly and messing up everything.
The landlady quickly brought over two large glasses of draft beer and gently placed them on the table. She also brought over the menu and asked them to take a look at it.
"Come on, cheers!"
Keiko Matsumoto raised her wine glass proudly.
The wine glass was very large, and her hands looked particularly delicate and delicate.
"Do you want to drink without eating something? You...get drunk easily..." Ning Weimin tried to persuade him with good intentions.
"Don't spoil the fun, you won't get drunk." Keiko Matsumoto said as if nothing had happened.
In this case, Ning Weimin would have to show some manliness.
"Well, cheers, so that your new work can come out as soon as possible and be a hit!"
"No, for... Mishima Yukio." Matsumoto Keiko's tone changed and it didn't sound like a joke.
"Why?" Ning Weimin asked puzzledly.
"It was for him that "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion" was written, and for that book we..."
Matsumoto Keiko didn't say any more, but her reddish complexion and drooping eyes perfectly expressed her thoughts.
"Okay, cheers!"
Of course, Ning Weimin was not an idiot. He realized it almost in the next second and understood the subtext.
So he stared at the person in his eyes with great encouragement and clinked glasses with Matsumoto Keiko.
The wine glasses kissed each other gently, and the sound was extremely clear.
What was even more unexpected was that Keiko Matsumoto drank half of it in one go.
Upon seeing this, Ning Weimin, who had already learned to abide by Japanese drinking rules, quickly changed his tune and drank more than half of the glass.
Then they started ordering.
The menu was a piece of yellowed paper with no pictures. Ning Weimin couldn't understand it at all because it was all in Korean.
The considerate Matsumoto Keiko took the initiative to ask him, "What do you like to eat?"
"Listen to you."
"You're welcome, what do you like to eat? I'll order it for you."
Keiko Matsumoto picked up the menu, put it between the two of them, pointed at the words on it, and tilted her head.
"I'll read it to you one by one, okay?"
"Thank you, but I'm not picky about food at all. You want to eat rice dumplings, right? Is it on the menu?"
"Yes."
"Then just order this."
"But...are you used to it?"
"I'm used to it. I actually like it. The Manchu people have a special food called Deshengbao, which is rice mixed with cabbage and perilla stuffed with soybean paste, mashed potatoes, stir-fried sesame tofu with green beans, stir-fried mixed rice, etc.
, it can be eaten in the capital of China and the three northeastern provinces. It is very popular. In addition, there are fifty-six ethnic groups in our country, including the Xian compatriots. There is a restaurant in the capital called Yanji Restaurant, which is..."
"Ah, I know, I've been to that Korean restaurant too. The cold buckwheat noodles are very famous, and I think they taste good. But the Victory Bun you mentioned... I don't think I've seen it in the capital before?"
At the end of the conversation, Keiko Matsumoto asked curiously.
"Then it's probably because the person hosting you doesn't know the capital well. But it's easy. Next time you go to the capital, I'll receive you and act as a free tour guide for you."
"That's great, it's settled..."
The two of them relaxed and chatted, and the time passed unknowingly.
When the landlady came in again, she was surprised to find that the food had not been ordered yet.
I only saw Keiko Matsumoto and Ning Weimin chatting happily.
The landlady apologized, said "Excuse me", and left.
But looking at his expression, he seemed to be suppressing a smile.
At this point, Matsumoto Keiko was also embarrassed.
I casually ordered some grilled vegetarian dishes, kebabs, and grilled fish, and quickly ended the process.
Unexpectedly, the boss also brought a lot of side dishes and roasted corn, and in the end, the table for six people could hardly fit in it.
The food on the table is so rich that even if five or six people can eat it, it will be more than enough.
Obviously, these two people are probably going to be guilty of wasting food today.
So Ning Weimin stopped tensing up.
Just take off your suit, roll up your arms and sleeves, and start eating and drinking.
My heart says, eat as much as you can. Eating more is to give face, right?
As expected, Matsumoto Keiko liked seeing him eating so much.
Not only did he keep dishing out the dishes for him, but he also made rice bags for him with his own hands.
Ning Weimin was so blessed that he had a sip of food and a sip of wine.
He doesn't have to worry about anything, he just needs to concentrate on eating.
Although I can no longer tell the taste of what I put in my mouth.
But this kind of happiness and satisfaction is truly enviable to the gods.
They just chatted while eating, getting closer and closer to each other, and becoming more and more speculative.