ただいま

Last night I had dinner with my English conversation class. We went to Kankokuen, a new yakiniku place in Beppu, across from Tokiwa. Yakiniku, for those who don't know, translates to 'fried meat'. Yakiniku comes from Korea originally-- hence the 'kankoku' reference (Kankoku is 'Korea' in Japanese). You sit around a table and order plates of raw meat and vegetables. Then you put the slices of meat on the barbecue, dip in sauce, and eat.

It reminds me of that scene in Lost in Translation, where Bill Murray questions what kind of a restaurant expects you to cook your own food.

Anyway, just before I left, one of my students, Kyoko, gave me a golden egg-looking thing held together with two strings. She was very explicit on how it was to be opened. She also specified that it be hung from a high place.

Well, the closest high place I had in my hotel was the bathroom door hook.

I opened it, and found:


The scroll is wound on two pieces of bamboo, and the scroll itself is a wonderful-feeling rice paper. The Japanese says 'Jeshika okaeri'. 'Jeshika' is my name in katakana, and 'okaeri' roughly translates to 'welcome back' in this case.

The pictures are:

The bird is Mejiron, the mascot of the Oita prefecture games. The prefecture games are going to start in October, so you see pictures of Mejiron everywhere. The writing to the right is a label for Oita cha, a type of bottled tea sold in Oita.



This is an exact copy of a Kirin beer label.

All of this is drawn by hand, incidentally.

'Okaeri' is used in Japanese homes when someone returns home from work or school, to which the proper reply is 'tadaima', or 'I'm back'.

This was a wonderful surprise and an equally wonderful gift.

Ja... tadaima!