Heard the one about the foreigner who wanted to get to Nakano and ended up in Nagano? She's actually pretty smart, and has no qualms about telling her embarrassing mishaps to complete strangers -- several hundred of them, in fact.
Neeta Bhushan of India was one of 18 foreign diplomats taking part in this year's "Embassy Official's Japanese Speech Contest," held Saturday at Tokyo's Kudan Kaikan as part of projects set up by the Embassies Friendship and Exchange Association.
Participants representing 16 countries, including Denmark, Cote D'Ivoire, the Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Sri Lanka, were each required to speak, in Japanese, for five minutes on the subject of their choice. Topics ranged from home care and Japanese greetings to "onsen" (hot springs) and bicycles.