Friday, 29 March 2024

Dear Mr. American….

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Dear Mr. American….

letter_big.gifAn American acquaintance of my husband went to Kochi on Shikoku Island of Japan as a junior high school teacher on a limited contract, but decided to live there permanently because he fell in love with a local Japanese woman from a rural town.

This guy just loves funny stories that sometimes cause embarrassment rather than laughter. While teaching in Japan, he showed his “talent” to his students. He would ask his students, “Have you heard a story about Onagadori (long-tailed rooster), one of the attractions of Kochi?” Then he would say, “Well, it’s a beautiful tale (tail)….”

He loves all sorts of Japanese food, including ones that non-Japanese usually don’t like, such as natto (fermented soybeans), shiokara (salted fish guts), octopus, umeboshi (pickled Japanese apricot), and sashimi. He also loves public baths. Walking in a yukata (cotton kimono robe) after taking a bath, he has an air of a Western version of the main character of Soseki Natsume’s “Botchan,” the setting of which is also Shikoku Island.

He speaks Japanese well and knows the units of measurement used in Japan. But when he counts, he uses English for numbers and Japanese for units. When counting paper, for instance, he would say, “one mai, two mai, three mai....” When counting small objects, he would go, “one ko, two ko, three ko....” When counting dogs, he would say, “A one hiki of dog....”

He is now a popular figure of the town. If a letter has the address “To Mr. American, XX Town, ΔΔ County, Kochi Prefecture,” it will be delivered to him without fail.

Yamaarashi of Tosa