Gaijin Jump

By Craig Chapin. First published in September 1987.

The house where I originally lived in Japan had a nice tokonoma. It provided a handy place for me to hang my laundry, especially when it was raining outside. One day my friend Takeshi gently explained to me the actual purpose of the tokonoma, just as the character in the strip did. (Thank you, Takeshi.)

Of course I continued to use the tokonoma for laundry, but after that I always made sure to hide the laundry before guests came over.

You might have noticed that, between the previous strip and this one, the main character shaved off his beard but left the mustache—just as I had done that summer. The mustache was short-lived, and I later gave up the idea of trying to synchronize Gaijin-san’s facial hair with my own. I changed my appearance too often and produced the strip too infrequently.