I unpacked in the morning, and in the afternoon Masao took me to Costco. Among other things we bought bagels, which he said he had never tried. That sounds crazy to an American! We ate hotdogs afterward and had conversations about how to state a hotdog in a bun versus a hotdog on its own and how to count hotdogs properly in Japanese and English. That sounds simple but it's surprisingly complicated!
For example, in Japanese, if you want one hotdog in a bun you would count it 一つ (hitotsu), but if you want one out of the bun you'd count it 一本 (ippon). 一個 (ikko) might also be an ok way to count one in a bun.
In the evening I went with Masao and one of his employees, Sayano, to a yakitori (fried chicken) place, and we ate dinner and engaged in some good-natured racist jokes, mainly in English because my brain had turned to mush. Later we ate cake, took stupid pictures, and engaged in more friendly racism. Masao turned to me on his third piece of cake and said with a sad look in his eyes "I'm becoming American." I told him soon he'd be fat like me.
Travel tips:
5. Ask questions about stupid things if you don't know. You won't end up looking dumb, and if you don't learn you might look ignorant later.
6. Try not to let stereotypes offend you. Play along and make fun of them.
(All names used in this blog are pseudonyms.)
No comments:
Post a Comment