Last night after work I joined the group of inspectors for a couple of drinks at a tachinomi place near the Hyogo station. We watched part of the Hanshin Tigers game, talked about this and that, and caught up a little bit since I came back from my trip. They are nice guys, and other than smelling like tobacco after hanging out with them, it is fun to visit their hangout now and then.
One of the guys, who has been in Japan for a little longer than I have, asked me how he should start studying Japanese. It is a good question – where to begin after living in the country for so long and not studying? I advised him to learn hiragana and then katakana… from there he can go on to learn basic vocabulary and grammar and start making sentences. I was glad to see him show some interest, and everybody was impressed when I ordered a glass of Pinot Noir from Burgundy – they always just ordered red wine and took whatever they got.
On the way home it started to rain, which was definitely a weather anomaly around here. Last night the typhoon approached and wind started whipping around, but it wasn’t a big one, and things are back to normal this morning. No worries!
