My Japanese Double Date

It all started late one Saturday night when I was awoken from sleep by the phone ringing. Oh heavens! What's going on?! Has someone died? Have the Robot Wars come at last?, were the first thoughts to rush through my head. Fortunately, the caller was only Joel Van Loon, the first year Canadian JET who lives out in the inaka with me (for those readers who still don't know what the inaka is, I suggest going back and reading earlier posts). Joel was calling me because he was out with two lovely Japanese girls, Aki and Mina, and said that one of them, Mina, was keen to meet me. "Great, okay…I'd like to meet her too (right?)", was my response and a week later I found myself on my very first Japanese date.

The four of us met in Usa at Aki's brother's restaurant—a quaint little place perfect for cool autumn nights—and enjoyed *kara-age and **biru together (except I had ***kora because I was driving). Through Mina's and Aki's basic English and Joel's extensive Japanese, we managed to talk about hobbies, family members, and music (all the basics for a first date). Turns out that Mina is quite a fan of U.K. bands and likes to call herself a "crazy girl" (I think her word choice on this point is a little off mainly due to her limited vocabulary). The evening was going well with our yakiniku popping and sizzling on the open flame and smiles being exchanged between all…dating in Japan was turning out to be rather fun and relaxing.

As if in response to this pleasant atmosphere, Fate decided to bring a fifth person into our company. After a phone call to Joel, a drunken, red-eyed, post-enkai Danny (another first year JET from California) showed up to amuse us (who doesn't love a fifth wheel?). He was in true form and engaged Mina in a hot debate over who the best U.K. bands are...the only problem was that sometimes they weren't really understanding one another and Mina would say, "Justin, help", to which I would reply, "Danny, be nice."

Long story short, we headed back to Aki's place where her and her brother have about a thousand songs on vinyl and a sweet turn table to play them on (they both have histories of being DJs). The five of us just chilled and Mina tried out some choice phrases from an English phrase book (one of them being "cheese is made from milk"). I enjoyed myself and was glad to meet and socialize with some young Japanese people. Aki and Mina are the first young people I've met here in the inaka and I hope to see them more often (and Danny can come too).


Japanese words defined:
*kara-age = big fried chicken nuggets
**biru = beer
***kora = cola


PS – quick internet update…I still don't have it at home! The internet guy was supposed to come on Wednesday, but the only people who managed to make it out to my apartment were the Jehovah's Witnesses! This crew really deserves their own post, but as a preview for next time, let me tell you two things: dangerous maneuvering and "wakarimasen".