With the Fishes

Today I got a phone call from my friend Daisuke at the kaiten-sushi place next door, saying that everyone there was worried about me because no one had seen me in so long, and was I OK and would I come in to see them all soon?

I need to remember that things like this happen, especially at those times when I get frustrated about being here in the Twilight Zone; this place can be pretty amazing for all its strangeness. So I went to the sushi place and I brought omiyage that I had bought for all the staff on my trip to Ishikawa-ken (chopsticks from the morning market in a city called Wajima on the Japan Sea, famous from bygone days for its laquerware, and some beautiful watercolor postcards on thick rice paper from Kanazawa's kenrokuen, one of the Three Best Gardens in Japan according to canon). I ate lots of sushi, I chatted with everybody, I enjoyed me some life. And then tonight I get this email from Daisuke...I think it is perhaps the best single piece of correspondance I have ever received in my life, despite an indecipherable part in the middle. It goes:

おみあげをどうもありがとう。Ｔｈａｎｋ ｙｏｕ ｓｏ ｍｕｃｈ ｆｏｒ ｓｏｕｖｅｎｉｒ ｆｏｒ ｍｅ。 Ｙｏｕ ａｒｅ ｓｕｃｈ ａｎｉｃｅ ｆｒｉｅｎｄ。Ｗｅ ａｌｌ ｌｏｖｅ ｙｏｕ ｅｖｅｎ ｓｏｍｅ ｗｏｒｋｓ ｗｈｏ ｗｏｒｋｓ ｂｅｈｉｎｄ ｔｈｅｃａｕｎｔｅｒ。 Ｗｈｅｎ ｙｏｕ ｃｏｍｅ ｉｎ ｏｕｒ ｒｅｓｔａｕｒａｎｔ、 ｅｖｅｒｙｂｏｄｙ ｌｏｏｋｓ ｈａｐｐｙ。Ａｎｄ ｔｈｅｍｏｏｄ ｈａｓ ｇｏｔｔｅｎ ｂｅｔｔｅｒ。Ｗｅ ｌｏｖｅ ｔｈａｔ。Ｔｈａｎｋ ｙｏｕ ｆｏｒ ｃｏｍｉｎｇ ｔｏｎｉｇｈｔ。おやすみ。

I love Japan? I love Japan.