Why?

An American woman (U.S. citizen) wasn't allowed to enter the Ryoan temple in Kyoto. She asked for an explanation to a noncooperative Japanese woman behind the counter of the ticket office. "Why?, why? ..." she kept on asking to no avail. There was no telling why, nothing unquestionably wrong in her appearance, to me anyway. The poker-faced Japanese employee stayed there smiling (coldly one would imagine), motionless, speechless. "Can you just tell me why?" She noticed I took notice. (I had just finished paying my visit to the Zen garden.) Our eyes met for a little while as her questioning went on. I ran into her again later at the bus stop, a few blocks away from the entrance gate, and our eyes met one more time. I had the strong urge to ask her if she already knew why.