Asakura mo ichido
Greetings from the shinkansen. I am cruising back to Osaka as I write this, with the Kanto night streaming by at 180 mph. A one-day meeting once again brought me to Tokyo, and upon leaving I discovered that Friday night is a popular time for the bullet train heading west. Alas my train will probably arrive after the Osaka subway has stopped, but shelling out for cab fare beats standing in an earlier, unreserved train car for 2 1/2 hours. I mean, where would I put my beer? On someone's head?
During my dalliance at Shin-Yokohama Station, I perused the snack items at one of the various platform kiosks. (Yes, I was bored. They were out of English-language newspapers, and I didn't look for a book of sudoku puzzles because for some reason I thought I wouldn't be able to understand it. It's been a long day.) Besides the ubiquitous dried fish snacks (which my four-legged sister Peanut really enjoys), I discovered "Roasted Macadamia Nuts and Crunchy Cheese" from Australia, home of many crunchy things. It was a difficult choice between that and oishi mono, or "delicious stuff", an interesting battered and baked nut mixture which offers "best-selected materials for best taste." I'm very impressed by the proper use of hyphenage, but the wordage seems more appropriate for an interior decorating project. Nevertheless, apropos the snacks, "whenever you eat them, you will be impressed by their dear old taste you once had." In conclusion, the manufacturers invite you to enjoy their sweets "at your tea time, or happy chating time with your family." This is better than what you'd find at engrish.com. And clearly better than my Japanese version, which would amount to, "You humbly eat please! Yum!"
After the meeting, on my way to the station, the ko-bossu Mark-san and I dropped in on Asakura, sans Steve. He had written a "letter of introduction" for us explaining why we were there, but of course they know us well, and I think we explained what the meeting was about ourselves. I have gained a good familiarity with the Japanese terms for "contamination", "absorption", "malfunction", "disaster", and "environmental hormone", although this last one I had to google in English as well, and I'm still not really sure why it came up. In any event, we had some excellent sushi, and I showed them this movie, which they found totemo omoshiroi and sugoi. I hope you enjoy it as well, or at least I hope you're able to view it. (Tabemasu. Tabemasu. Tabemasu.)
In one week I am done with my nippon no touban ("raishuu kinyoobi shigoto ga ijoo desu"). The chiisai josei is flying out next Saturday, and we begin twenty days of adventures. On the docket are Himeji castle (an ancient structure somehow spared bombing in WWII), sakura blossoms in Kyoto, ozumo Osaka-style (itte Kotooshu), fun and sun on Okinawa, kabuki in Tokyo, a possible trip to Asakura, the ninja museum, and of course ozushi, okonomiyaki, yakitori, yakiniku, takoyaki, ramen, zakaya no tabemono, unagiyaki (unadon ya unajuu)...so many foods, so little time. (Tabemasu. Tabemasu. Tabemasu.)
During my dalliance at Shin-Yokohama Station, I perused the snack items at one of the various platform kiosks. (Yes, I was bored. They were out of English-language newspapers, and I didn't look for a book of sudoku puzzles because for some reason I thought I wouldn't be able to understand it. It's been a long day.) Besides the ubiquitous dried fish snacks (which my four-legged sister Peanut really enjoys), I discovered "Roasted Macadamia Nuts and Crunchy Cheese" from Australia, home of many crunchy things. It was a difficult choice between that and oishi mono, or "delicious stuff", an interesting battered and baked nut mixture which offers "best-selected materials for best taste." I'm very impressed by the proper use of hyphenage, but the wordage seems more appropriate for an interior decorating project. Nevertheless, apropos the snacks, "whenever you eat them, you will be impressed by their dear old taste you once had." In conclusion, the manufacturers invite you to enjoy their sweets "at your tea time, or happy chating time with your family." This is better than what you'd find at engrish.com. And clearly better than my Japanese version, which would amount to, "You humbly eat please! Yum!"
After the meeting, on my way to the station, the ko-bossu Mark-san and I dropped in on Asakura, sans Steve. He had written a "letter of introduction" for us explaining why we were there, but of course they know us well, and I think we explained what the meeting was about ourselves. I have gained a good familiarity with the Japanese terms for "contamination", "absorption", "malfunction", "disaster", and "environmental hormone", although this last one I had to google in English as well, and I'm still not really sure why it came up. In any event, we had some excellent sushi, and I showed them this movie, which they found totemo omoshiroi and sugoi. I hope you enjoy it as well, or at least I hope you're able to view it. (Tabemasu. Tabemasu. Tabemasu.)
In one week I am done with my nippon no touban ("raishuu kinyoobi shigoto ga ijoo desu"). The chiisai josei is flying out next Saturday, and we begin twenty days of adventures. On the docket are Himeji castle (an ancient structure somehow spared bombing in WWII), sakura blossoms in Kyoto, ozumo Osaka-style (itte Kotooshu), fun and sun on Okinawa, kabuki in Tokyo, a possible trip to Asakura, the ninja museum, and of course ozushi, okonomiyaki, yakitori, yakiniku, takoyaki, ramen, zakaya no tabemono, unagiyaki (unadon ya unajuu)...so many foods, so little time. (Tabemasu. Tabemasu. Tabemasu.)
posted by Eric M. at 10:30 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home