lingqi's Journal: June 16th, 2003

June 16th, 2003 (6:15pm)

Has it occured to anyone what capable drinkers Japanese (not stereotyping or anything) are?

On friday, we went out and had a little get-together between some visitors from the US and several (now again*) native residents of japan. I was the designated driver and probably spent about 15 dollars on oolong-tea during the session.

*now again* = they were in the US for a few years on overseas assignment, which is why all of us know eachother well.

Anyway, to my surprise, the "little" get-together was a six-hour get-together (7pm until 1am), mixed with beer and sake that I became quite incapable of counting. But it doesn't stop there - on the way back to the car, two of the japanese guys decided that they should go and have a second round at the drinking, and headed off - I think they stayed out till 3:30 or thereabouts.

And, as far as I can tell, no hangovers. Maybe they have better liver genes than the rest of us.

There are not much of the conversation that I can repeat (for one I don't remember so much) - but one thing amusing about some guys learning japanese:

A group of guys go eat, and decides that they want some kama - which is the jaw/gill bone portion of a fish - due to the ever-moving nature of the muscle there, the meat is considered to be the most delicate.

Deciding that he should be polite, the person doing the ordering decided to add the prefix "o-" to the front, as in "okama (ãSéoe)," which would be mean gay or homosexual. Upon hearing the unsusal order, the owner lady got this look of fear in her eyes, as she uncomfortably tells her customers that this is not that kind of shop, but she might be able to direct them to the approporiate establishment if he really insist* (customer IS always right, eh?)...

Kicking oneself in the groins ensue.

*I might be making this last part up (I can't remember so well now), though in particular circumstances I would certainly not be amazed at such an offer.

p.s. An earthquake JUST hit, again. I am guessing between 2-3 (leaning toward 3) where I am. Sure's been frequent lately! I am thinking that maybe if the pent-up energy is released on such frequent intervals at a small scale, maybe the expected big-kanto-quake won't hit (which would be certainly good!). Or this is an omen for things to come. I guess no use worrying about things you can't change, though.

Gay Fish??

[segfaultdot]

Before i start my question, let me say hi and thank you for your journal. I've been reading it with considerable interest since late April. I am in oklahoma city, which is about as far away from Japan as you can imagine, both geographically AND culturally/philosophically/etc..., hence my great interest in it... i started studying a bit of Japanese but as most things go i didn't have a whole lot of time dedicated to it, so it's on the backburner along with learning Perl, planting some flowers, and building a

Re:Gay Fish??

[ObviousGuy]

"okama" means "gay".

"kama" is a type of fish dish (jawbone muscle)

"o" is a prefix added to certain words to indicate politeness

"okama" is supposed to mean "honorable fish dish" (yes, it's Engrish!)

But "okama" was taken to mean "gay"

"Please serve me your best homosexual" is not exactly the most normal phrase you'd hear outside of Shinjuku 2-chome.

Re:Gay Fish??

[segfaultdot]

Ahh! (Light comes on as person is struck with clue bat.)

That's hilarious... thanks for explaining :)