About 4 p.m. when I was writing a thesis I got a call from Rick.
.
Now his girlfriend from Germany has stayed with him since Dec. 30 last year and she would like to eat Jiro once because he must have talked to her about it through telephone or E-mail.
Although the deadline for my thesis is 6 days after, Jan. 15, and I was busy, I answered "yes" because his guest is my guest, I should always welcome a guest, especially one from overseas, my motto is Giri and Nin-jo
, obligation and heart, which I can tell you hardly in English.
About 8 p.m. I met him and his girlfriend Ann in front of the police box at the west area of Ikebukuro station
.
This was the first time this year 2010 to see him. And I have seen her at the end of last July when she came to Japan last.
We were in the strange multilingual situation; he and I talked to each other in Japanese, he and she in German, and she and I in English.
You might wonder why I did not speak in German in spite of the fact I had studied German literature and philosophy. The answer is simple: you should not expect that in order to speak in German fluently all you have to do is read German texts.
Ramen JiroJiro was crowded and there were ramen fans waiting in line outside of this shop but were no Europeans or Americans except Ann.
Rick often interpreted to her what I said in Japanese while I talked to her in English.
And I was so sorry to her for my very poor English as well as German.
Kaz speaks in German fluently so I asked him why they did not come with Kaz.
He said to me with a grin "do you know whether it is a intentional exclusion or not?"
(The truth seemed that he did not ask Kaz unintentionally.)
And I was afraid that she did not like Jiro because all of Japanese ramen fans do not always like Jiro because of its oily and thick taste.
I asked her whether she had ever eaten Japanese ramen or not. She answered "yes."
But I was afraid that she did not understand Jiro is abnormal ramen.
I chose a large size (800 yen) and they chose small ones (700 yen).
Somehow or other, they gave me a seat at the counter between them, Rick on my left side and Ann on my right side.
I thought that a couple had better sit next to each other and it might be hard for him to interpret because of this formation.
But my fear was just groundless; she was able to understand what I said to her in poor English and German with gesture. She might be accustomed well to understanding what a foreigner says to her in poor German or English because she is a teacher to teach foreign students German in many countries including Japan.
Moreover we had to concentrate on the fight against this oily and garlicky ramen.
Large size I chose: I think it was less than usual
Rick on my left side: he is left-handedAfter eating it and going out of the shop, I asked her "how about Jiro?" She answered "very good. But I do not want to eat it every week" -- we, Rick, Kaz and I, often eat it once a week.
She said that it was very garlicky. I cried in German "das ist Jiro! (this is Jiro!)"
Maybe she likes garlic dishes. A few days later I asked him whether she liked gyoza
(餃子), a kind of Chinese dumplings seasoned with garlic. He answered "yes."
And in fact gyoza is Rick's favorite food. A couple is similar to each other.
Doutor CofferNext, we moved to a coffer shop,
Doutor Coffer* there.
In fact we would like to go to an British pub, Hub but it was so crowded and noisy that we judged we were not able to talk quietly there.
Ann ordered clerks Mille Crepes
(ミルクレープ), a kind of cake as well as hot macha latte
(抹茶ラテ).
(Rick ordered hot coffee and I chose iced macha latte only.)
Rick whispered to me in Japanese "Unbelievable! This is the first time to see who can eat sweets after eating Jiro."
I did not know whether the saying "I have room for sweets"
(甘いものは別腹) which Japanese women tend to say applied to also this German lady, or her stomach was just larger than ours.
And this group might have looked strange for other guests; two Japanese men and one German woman sang supporter's songs or TV commercial songs such as
Rokkou Oroshi (Hanshin Tigers),
Moeyo Dragons (Chunichi Dragons),
Hoero Lions (Seibu Lions), Bic Camera, Yodobashi Camera etc. as well as talked in "champon" of three languages.
Somehow or other, we talked about music and popular song. It was influenced by the fact I loved Heavy Metal and Rock and Roll.
I rented them two CDs I took with myself because she said before that she was not familiar with German Metal or Rock. One CD was the compilation album of SCORPIONS and another was a CD-R compiled and mastered from HELLOWEEN by myself.
...A few days later Rick told me that she had given a wry smile to my CD-R. That is because I think women and children cannot understand Heavy Metal universe.
But I would like her as a German citizen to understand here is a Japanese who is interested in German culture and began to study German philosophy thanks to German Metal just no less than many foreigners are interested in Japanese culture thanks to Japanese animation and manga.
While Rick was in the toilet, I asked her about Nintendo DS. She have DS which Rick gave her and I went to Akihabara with him when he bought it last summer. "Yes I know that," she answered.
I: "Did you play Nintendo when you were young?"
I wanted to know whether Nintendo had been played popularly in Germany 20-30 years ago.
Ann: "No. my parents were of course liberal but strict so they told me to play out and I wasn't able to play it. And I don't like Coca-Cola because they didn't give it to me."
I: "Oh, me too."
I do not like Coke because of my parents.
In addition, I asked a less important question to her. "Sony or Nintendo, which is more popular in Germany?"
After a split second of thinking she answered, "well, I don't know but I think Nintendo because everyone has a good memory and image to play it as a child."
This conversation was practiced all in English. I was a little nervous because of my poor ability to talk in foreign languages. Therefore it was very hard for me to
talk in English while I was thinking what I should
talk about next.
After Rick's comeback I said to him in English for her. "Give her another new soft!"
By the way, Rick began to play video games because his father played them first.
I was surprised that Rick made eye contact with Ann and judged instantly whether she needed an interpretation of what I said in Japanese.
Of course she was able to understand Japanese a little. But only that might not be why.
FarewellAbout 11 p.m. we left each other.
At the entrance of Ikebukuro station I asked her. "When is the next time to come back here?"
"August," she answered.
"Ok, auf Wiedersehen! (See you again!)" I said.
"Danke! (Thank you!)" she said.
...Too long (1310 words). Thank you for reading this too long texts until the end!
