As I, Phileas
Fogg, along with my valet, Passepartout, made my way around
the world to collect on the £20,000 offered by London's Reform club for the
person first to make it around the world in 80 days, I was constantly being
tailed by that persistent British detective Fix, who falsely thought I robbed
the Bank of England and was hot on my tail, having pursued me halfway around
the world. Today I was in Yokohama Japan, having arrived by steamer from
Shanghai China. In the confusion of stowing away on the steamer, my valet Passepartout
and I had become separated and he had come on his own. It took me a while to
locate him, finally finding him hiding out with a travelling circus. Reunited,
we went to the waterfront looking for a way to get to San Francisco for the
next leg of the journey.
It was foggy
that morning and the waterfront looked dark and foreboding. I was a stranger in
a strange land. I didn't know who to trust. Ahead I spied the silhouette of a
person. Who was it? Who could it be? Fix? One of his cronies? A dockworker ? As
I got closer, I noticed it was a Japanese lady. Going on my gut, I took a
chance and spoke to her, not knowing if she understood English or if she would
turn me in to the authorities where Fix would catch me and send me back to prison
in England. Nervously I told her my
story and was relieved when she seemed sympathetic to my plight. She knew the
docks well, having grown up there, the daughter of a longshoreman. She
persuaded me and Passepartout to hide in some crates on a steamer bound for San
Francisco. The crate contained some green snacks. Curious, I tasted one of them
and to my surprise discovered I love the taste, and I am sure you will too, so
now we bring that taste to you, the Sakuro seaweed rice cracker snack, straight
from the docks of Japan to a store near you.
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