I had a great time with my former students from Mitsuboshi last night. They are a great group of people that really enjoy spending time together, and it doesn’t seem to matter whether they use Japanese or English – everyone is relaxed and talkative. We caught up on what they’ve been doing, and enjoyed some pretty good izakaya food in the process.
As always, Maki had a lot of interesting stories about his quest to get married through an arranged marriage. He’s been working at it a long time, but he hasn’t quite found success just yet. Jun, Ai and Naoko also filled us in on what they’ve been up to (in English). I was struck by how willing to speak about private issues they were when using English.
I shared a train ride in the same direction with Naoko. She recently got married (to a Kawasaki Heavy Industries worker) and is living at the KHI company housing in Higashi Kakogawa. She related a scary story – she was mugged near the station at Higashi Kakogawa recently. I was shocked – quiet, sleepy Higashi Kakogawa? Some guy pulled a knife on her and took her wallet, and then ran off. She called her husband who came as quick as he could, and together they talked with the police, but unfortunately no results. Scary story!
Partly because of that story I went to the station to meet Kuniko who arrived home pretty late and walked her back. I guess you never know when crime will strike…
Tonight’s original plan was to go out with Antoine, but he reported in as under the weather, so we’re postponing the get-together until another time. Instead Kuniko and I will just hang out in Okubo tonight as she has to work early on Saturday.
