Tacos, America and Handi-Vac Bags
There are many good things about being in the U.S., like being able to order a taco without getting octopus, since tako happens to be Japanese word for that marine creature. It's nice driving for free on the freeways instead of forking over $25 or so for a trip as I do back home, and having three dozen Mexican restaurants within a ten minute drive of my house isn't bad either. My wife is enjoying American television, from the endless reruns of CSI on cable channels to reality television like The Baby Borrowers, which seems oddly to be made in a way that a former ESL student like my wife can easily understand it. Even American TV commercials have her giggling with delight, from the ubiquitous ads for lawyers (unthinkable in Japan, where attorneys are so rare that I've never met one in 17 years of living in the country) to commercials for products she's sure would be popular with housewives back home, like the Reynolds Handi-Vac bags with a device that removes the air from the bag before you freeze it. Just as Americans might be amazed at watching television in Japan with all its chaos, it's fun for us to sit back and soak up the American TV that we don't generally get to see.
(Actually, you're going to shake your head at me, but octopus is one of my favorite foods.)
posted by Peter in Japan at 5:43 PM
3 Comments:
Incidentally, Tako (octopus) is differentianted from taco (the Mexican food) by making the latter plura, e.g. tacos (タコス). So even if you want one taco, you have to get used to asking for one tacos. Weird, eh?
3:24 AM
Well, octopus is at least a pretty food in my opinion, whether or not you want to eat any of it.
So you've never met a lawyer in Japan? What happened to all the "I am Tanaka, a lawyer from Tokyo Electric Company, here is my business card." you always hear about in Japanese textbooks?
Hajimemashita, Tanaka desu. Tokyo Denki no bengoshi desu. Watashi no meishi desu. or something like that.
and everybody sing... Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!!!
Tanaka-san later turns out to be a fan of shabu-shabu.
5:07 AM
The thing is, Octopus has no flavor (absolutely nothing fishy) and only 139 calories per serving. Naturally, the perfect thing is to take a blend of hamburger and make a healthy half octopus, half meat burger. A good idea, no?
Never met Tanaka. In my textbook is was Yamada, and he was an teacher at (circle circle) university, the (circle circle) being some kind of censorship that let us imagine any university we liked.
5:10 PM
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