Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Immunity Eludes Me

Wyatt and I just got back from a trip to Nishimatsuya (a.k.a. the pink bunny store) and it has left me wondering if I would ever get numb to all the funny Japanese things. Take, for instance, his new sweatshirt that features a karaoke-singing frog. It's all in kanji so I have no idea what it says, but do I really need to? It's a frog, with a microphone and some musical notes that are upside down. And the frog might be tipsy.

I also noticed for the first time that they sell banana cases - I guess so your banana doesn't get all bruised in your bento box? It must be a fairly popular item because there are two styles, one neoprene (that would also insulate it, right?) and one hard plastic. Very interesting that they don't feel the God-given peel does its job. Why so down on the banana peel, Japan?

And then we stopped at Starbucks on the way home, where I ordered a tall iced, non-fat latte. They (of course) got the order exactly right and served it with true Japanese panache: a smile, a bow and a happy face drawn on my cup.

Japan, I will miss you!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wyatt's new sweatshirt sounds very cute. And remember all the Japanese wearing shirts with some English phrase on them and wondering "Do they really not know what their shirt says?...." I hope you're not setting Wyatt up for humiliation if he happens to run into someone fluent in kanji :) But really, I love reading the things you will miss about Japan. You and Lori's sister could become PR spokespersons for spousal support of the Air Force way of life.

The Blake Family said...

The smile, bow, and happy face...the memories of Japan summed up in three words...we'll miss it to! Although, I must say, I don't think I will miss the geckos.

Steph said...

I thought the same thing your mom said! It's kind of like when Americans get all tough and get cool-looking tattoos of kanji thinking it says "Tranquility" or "Love" or "I'm raw & dangerous" and it really says "Fruitcake" or what have you. But it sure looks cool!

At least Wyatt won't be wearing the shirt in Japan. That might be risky. In America, we're clueless and to us it's just a cute singing Japanese frog. So he may look a little tipsy but isn't that what all people singing karaoke look like?