Venturing Out

Events occur 7/30/08, written 8/3/08

Those of you who know me, know there’s always an adventure attached to what would seem to be a reasonably normal task. Tonight’s adventure? Finding a place to eat in a strange neighborhood in sub-suburban Japan. So, my sensei dropped me off in my apartment, and was like "OK, you have good rest, see you tomorrow." Alone in Japan, not really knowing what's happening, and worst of all hungry, I decided I needed to venture out and see what could be had to eat. Armed with plenty of cash, an empty stomach, and a Japanese-English dictionary I simply started walking around my neighborhood. My gas stove wasn’t working yet, so I knew I had to eat out until that happened. I went wandering, and there was something about the o-bentou (honorable boxed lunch) place across the street that just didn’t appeal to me. I heard there was a Y100 o-sushi ya (honorable short-grain sticky rice with fish for one dollar shop) nearby, and I’ve been dying to eat sushi since coming to Japan. I wandered, but I was afraid of getting lost, so I stopped and looked across the street at a place whose kanji I recognized as shokuji (meal), but I wasn’t exactly sure what kind of place it was. I could read the katakana outside that said “ramen” and my stomach was talking to me so I substituted hunger for courage and walked in. Inside, I found a very small, local diner kind of place, but it was largely empty, except for one man eating at a table, hunched over his food. He didn’t look up, so I figured he didn’t work there.

I was kind of afraid at this point, and I couldn’t see anyone else, either there to greet me, or in the kitchen. I almost walked out, but I was committed to seeing this adventure through, so I asked the man eating for his attention. He looked up and I asked if there was a tenshu (shopkeeper) available. He looked at me funny and I became more nervous than ever. All of a sudden, in lieu of a verbal response, he starts banging on the table with an open hand and shouting out to the kitchen. At this point I was utterly terrified… I had no idea what was in store for me other than I was in a strange place and there was a lot of noise being made due to my arrival, and I was probably going to die hungry.

An elderly gentleman in his, say, mid-50s emerged from the back of the kitchen and I managed to muster a smile and tried to explain I was hungry… and in my nervousness I forgot all my Japanese and the best I could muster was… “me-n-u o kudasai“ (can I see a menu?). He asked me if I could read Japanese, and I told him, I could not read kanji. He asked me what I wanted, and I asked for ramen. He said, “ramen dake desu ka?” (just ramen?!) and I was trying to figure out what else could come with ramen when he told me if I liked curry that I should have that. I do like curry, and I was happy to oblige with whatever the man was willing to make me if I could just make it out of here alive and preferably full. Then he asked me the magic question… “gunjin desu ka” (are you military?) and again, “Naevi?” I shook my head and explained I was a new English teacher at the local high school. He asked me which one, and I told him , and his expression totally changed.

It was at this point a woman around his age entered the store and he excitedly told her about this strange gaijin in their store in rapid Japanese I couldn’t make out and he disappeared into the kitchen. The lady sat down at my table and explained to me that that was her husband and they had a daughter that went to my highschool and she was on homestay in Seattle Washington with Urata-sensei, my supervisor. When I explained this back to her and even told her I used to live in Seattle for 6 years her (and her husband shouting from the kitchen) excitedly asked me questions about myself and told me about them.

I told them I was a line dancer from Atlanta Georgia, I used to work for Coke as a Chemist, and I had moved to rural Japan to be an English teacher because I wanted to try teaching while I studied Japanese. This of course sounds like a lie, but in my case it actually happens to be true. I explained everything I knew about Scarlet O’Hara (what the Japanese know about Georgia), and they showed me pictures of their girl, gave me their names, gave me a day planner, gave me fruit (honey-dew melon, like many fruits and vegetables, is not cheap in Japan), gave me beer, complete with kanpai (toast, cheers), made me o-nigiri (honorable rice balls) for my breakfast the next day, and even melon flavored pudding cups for desert to take home with me, and only charged me for my curry! I made my first new friends in Japan, and I’m very happy I decided to eat at their restaurant. Mama (as she calls herself) said she and Papa were going to make me a cake for my birthday later this month and to be sure and come back. I’m so happy I have new friends so soon after moving to Japan.

No, I didn't interrupt their kindness to ask if I could take their pictures. More pics, coming, promise.