This afternoon, in the locker room at my gym, I witnessed a scene I would not see just any old where.

There were two Japanese men, one younger and in his twenties, the other looking mid-fifties or so. They were speaking to one another in a patois of Japanese and English. Mostly Japanese, with a smattering of English words and half-sentences. I did not really pay much attention, and went about my business.

Then I heard the older one say to the other, “each state gets two.” This was followed by more Japanese that I did not understand. My ears pricked up, and I wondered if they were talking about the Senate. Naw, I thought. Why would they be?

But, evidently not only were they talking about the Senate, but the older man appeared to be giving the younger man a lesson in U.S. civics. I clearly heard “minority leader,” “House,” “president,” and more.

I felt both pleased and crestfallen. Pleased, because it is cool to live in the nation’s capital region, where you run across such conversations more often than you’d imagine.

Crestfallen, because I just can’t imagine two American expatriates having a similar conversation in, say, a Japanese bath house.