Day 8 - Sapporo

7th February, 2003 - What a day - but still, the hardest part was yet to come. I've already met the family (of course) - but now I have the next biggest hurdle. The nod of approval from the best friend, T2-chan. It was around 8pm, and we had decided to meet T2-chan in the city at a nice little cafe (very swish) for a coffee and an interogation. Hmmm - as we sat and waited, my thoughts turned to the journey so far. That and the fact that we paid 700yen for this coffee. That's damned expensive coffee!

Actually the thing that I'm most probably thinking is... why did I drink so much for dinner tonight? T-chan's Otousan can be so persuasive!

As it turned out, T2-chan spoke English reasonably well (as she'd studied in America), and therefore as my Japanese was pretty well non-existant, we managed still to communicate ok. There were many serious moments, broken only by... "I have a question"... A question. Try about 100 questions....

And yet no one could answer me this very simple question... why in Japan do the Japanese people call green traffic lights "blue". It's not a translation thing - they call it blue in Japanese. Yes - Japanese green lights are the same green as ours - and it's not like they do it for other green things... only traffic lights (as far as I can tell). Questions like this plague me to this day.

Why is it so?

And did I pass the test, T2-chan?...

Actually - after meeting T2-chan, I have to admit the growing discomfort in my stomach finally got the better of me - at about midnight - somewhere between the subway station and home. How embarrassing! Luckily it wasn't an hour earlier - T2-chan might not have such a good impression. Ïn the words of the bard..."Bring me a bucket!...

... and no, it wasn't T2-chan, it was definitely the assortment of beer, shouchu and a few other drinks that did it. You'd think that it would take only one such experience to learn, but alas....