Land of Tomorrow : Kaneko-san's Verb Advisory (Kobe Luminarie)

Lessons with Kaneko-san of are growing. I'm learning more sentence patterns, understanding more of what he says, learning more about him and he about me. Today I explained in my essay that I had a friend visiting and by the end of our lesson, 20 minutes past the allotted time, he was inviting him to come to my lesson next week. Our good will is growing and I'm looking forward to next week.

I also learned that the different ways of addressing one another in Japanese based on status are real. One of the things in which I would like to be better practiced is informal speech. It's the way people and friends speak to one another and right now I mostly know a stuffy textbook version. Today, Kaneko-san spoke the informal version to me in an example and I wrote it down, happy to have it. Following this he told me the formal one. I wrote it down as well, for clarity, and continued to use the informal, hoping to get more practice. Oops, wrong answer. Uma, he said. Based on Waku Waku concert narrative I've learned that "uma" is the word for horse, the origin of the hair for bows. Not knowing how this fit into the conversation, I expressed confusion. He picked up his knew "Howdy" English to Japanese dictionary and turned to another unexpected word, the one he was actually saying, "woman." As a young woman, I should use a certain type of speech, the formal respectful one, however I don't think this is the same form that he uses when he addresses me. I'll have to listen for this more closely in the future. A hidden confound, a rock in the path to understanding. And now to clear it as best I can.

Following this, a trip to Kobe to see the Luminarie, a beautiful seasonal lighting. We joined a huge (read: huge) river of people, flowing through a perfectly managed maze of closed downtown streets towards a beautiful glow. Along the way we were accompanied by atmospheric muzak as only the Japanese can do. Little stalls of delicious goods greeted us at the end and we sampled some ikayaki (grilled squid).