The neighbor (Vietnam)

The neighbor always greeted me with a “hello, teacher” and a smile. I was her ChatGPT as she always had questions for me—  about travel, and sometimes about Japanese and Korean politics.

The neighbor and her friends run the little bars in the Japanese town. They like to have interesting topics to discuss with their patrons who are mostly Japanese, Korean, or Taiwanese businessmen or factory experts. The more topics they had to discuss, the longer they could keep the guests.

I didn’t mind the quick chat. Often, I got useful intelligence from them— the stuff their guests let slip— like what tech giant is going to start mobile phone production in Vietnam. Perhaps I should switch careers to industrial espionage.