The weekly firm lunch resumed today, after us having had a holdiay weekend last Friday.  I have discovered the way to avoid the "what have I eaten!!" crisis.  I showed up a couple of minutes late today, after the waiter had already come around to tell us what we would be eating.  When my plate of mystery meat (and a yummy medley of wild mushrooms) arrived in front of me, I merely neglected to ask what it was.  Problem solved.  (I think it may have been pigeon today, but I have no confirmation, so I'm blisfully ignorant.)

Story of the day: "FUSHIGI OJI-SAN"

A strange thing happened to me last night.  But there is a bit of background I need to explain first.  Akita (prefecture), where I used to live, is known in Japan for its beautiful women.  (They attribute this to pure water and the resulting rice.)  They are called "Akita Bijin" (pronounced BEE-jean - meaning 'beautiful person').  Similarly, Kyuushuu (island, in the far west of Japan) is known for its hearty, strong men, called "Kyuushuu Danji".  There are probably other areas with similar things, that I'm just not aware of.

Last night I went to a most excellent opera recital that was organized to raise funds for street children in Romania.  The star of the evening was a diva from Romania - absolutely amazing!!  (Former Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata was there & gave a little speech at the end, too.)  One of the partners (Hamada sensei, the Hamada in 'Hamada & Matsumoto') of my firm is a patron of the event, so he invited me to go, and assigned his secretary to get me there safely.  She is a lovely, kind individual, and I enjoyed this outing immensely.

As Sato-san and I walked out of the subway station where the recital was, there was an old man (oji-san) sitting on a bicycle across the sidewalk from us.  He reached his hand out towards Sato-san, and repeated "Kyuushuu Danji" 3 or 4 times.  Then he reached towards me and said "Akita Bijin!" and pedaled off.

I though it was really weird, since I do NOT, by any stretch of the imagination, look like I'm from Akita (even though all of my colleagues here refer to it as my 'hometown'), let alone like an Akita Bijin.  But somehow... he knew I was "from" there.  Oooooo...

And Sato-san, although NOT by any stretch of the imagination a Danji (burly guy), IS from Kyuushuu.