I got a good laugh the other day while watching an episode of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show. During the “Moments of Zen” compilation of coverage of the two political conventions, British comedian John Oliver tried to walk into the BBC’s preparation room, despite not having an official pass. “I’m British,” he said, with his proper accent, “and you don’t need a credential to be British. My voice is my credential.” It was extra amusing to me because I’d done a very similar thing in Japan. A decade or so ago, they held an international speed-skating competition in my prefecture, so I decided to go check it out. As I went to find my seats in the bleachers, I happened to notice a door for coaches and other VIPs, most of whom were from the U.S. or Europe, and on a hunch I wondered if I could get into that room just by being American. The Japanese person watching the door didn’t want to let me in at first, but the right mixture of appearing to be in a hurry and speaking English at him rapidly got the job done, and I got to enjoy the skating competition while helping myself to beers and munchies. It wasn’t very nice of me, of course, but it was an experiment I felt had to be made at the time.
