The Jennifer Blogs

That means "My name is Jen" in Japanese. Beyond that, I can't speak a whole lot of Japanese. 

I can order chicken rice, not that I want to. The chicken is too fatty and is quite often dark meat (I prefer white meat). 

I can answer the phone ("moshi moshi"). 

I can say Thank You (arigato), Good evening (kon bon wa), and count from 1 to 10. That's about it.



So when the phone rang the other day and a Japanese woman started talking to me, I was certain she had the wrong telephone number. She asked me at one point, in English, if I speak Japanese. I told her in English, "Very, very little." So she kept trying to get her point across to me in English. I just knew she was going to try to sell me something, but I finally figured out she was delivering something to my house and wanted to make sure I would be home and would have the cash for the C.O.D.



I think a lot of Japanese people speak more English than they let on. It's my opinion they are worried that if they start to speak a little English that I will assume they must know a lot of English. That's precisely why I don't try to speak Japanese. I just know they are going to think, "Oh, good! She speaks Japanese." Then they will go on and on and on in Japanese and I will be left standing there with question marks over my head.



Those who do speak pretty good English like to practice on us, though. Tonight on the subway D'Ette sat next to a Japanese man who looked to be in his 40s (which means he's probably 70 - they look so GOOD over here!). He told her that her brother looks like Harry Potter and that her father looks like Santa Claus! 

I had to laugh out loud! Although Jean-Luc might be able to pass in Japan as Harry Potter (minus the British accent and magic wand), my husband looks NOTHING like Santa Claus! (I did, however, use that as an excuse to tell him he'd better back away from the all-you-can-eat curry buffet he's been frequenting on his lunch breaks). 



Before we came here I had these visions of taking Japanese lessons. However, as difficult as it is to learn this language, by the time we leave I will only just be figuring out the basics. I spoke with a friend of mine the other day (Beth). She is an American living in Tokyo. She has been here 10 years and agrees that I won't be here long enough for it to be worth my time taking Japanese lessons. So for now I will learn a few key phrases and when I don't know what someone is saying to me I will look at them quizzically, like they look at me when they don't know what I'm saying.



Still, it would be nice to communicate with those people here who I am growing fond of. Strange, but I really love the girl at the dry cleaners. I found out her name tonight, but I will spare myself the embarrassment of trying to spell it. She speaks very little English, and all I can say to her that she understands is "nori" (starch). I also really like the people at Starbucks. They stopped and talked to Beth and me the other evening for several minutes. Beth had to translate where she could, but I would loved to have been able to talk to them as well. They were so friendly and genuinely nice people.



I know we're leaving here this March to head to Singapore for two years, but if God allows us to come back to Tokyo, I want to come back -- and next time maybe I'll be here long enough to learn the language.