{"id":2821,"date":"2015-07-29T00:43:38","date_gmt":"2015-07-29T00:43:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/weshareinterests.com\/?p=2821"},"modified":"2016-02-18T04:53:19","modified_gmt":"2016-02-18T04:53:19","slug":"a-week-that-was-ming-and-yuka-get-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/weshareinterests.com\/?p=2821","title":{"rendered":"Ming & Yuka – The Week that Was, their Love that Is"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"1500<\/a><\/p>\n

| I used to work in a nice building downtown that was shown in a Tony Hawk game <\/a>which means something to some and nothing to others. One summer there, I met a woman named Yuka. <\/p>\n

Mike: \u201cHey we\u2019re gonna have a temp here for a week, a student from one of those ESL schools.\u201d<\/p>\n

Me: \u201cNoooo.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s that about? <\/p>\n

\u201cHow bad is their English?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo idea. You\u2019re the one that asked for help. Take advantage of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo good if they can\u2019t follow directions and I waste more time explaining something two or three times and that\u2019s just what I mean by \u2018payroll.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWell, just give her simple things like counting uniforms or doing follow-up calls.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not going to fill the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFormat files?\u201d As he said that he brought his hands up in a parallel fashion to the sides of his head. It could have been a made-up dance move.<\/p>\n

Stare. <\/p>\n

Mike: \u201cJust see what you can do. I don’t care. Anyway, I\u2019m in meetings for the rest of the day. Send an email if you need me.\u201d <\/p>\n

Me: “Bye.\u201d <\/p>\n

The next morning. <\/p>\n

Hoda the HR Lady: \u201cHi Ming. How are you? Say \u2018Hello.\u2019 This is Yuka.\u201d <\/p>\n

Me: \u201cHi. Nice to meet you.\u201d <\/p>\n

Clearly she was new to this sort of introduction. I haven\u2019t shaken a hand this limp since every Korean kid I tutored when I was in university, and they had an excuse – they were, like, 10, not an adult in their twenties. \u201cShake hands much?\u201d I\u2019m holding the noodle. <\/p>\n

Yuka: \u201cExcuse me?\u201d <\/p>\n

Me: \u201cWe need to work on this.\u201d I raise the noodle. \u201cLet\u2019s do this again.\u201d I grip with noticeable pressure. <\/p>\n

Yuka: \u201cHmm\u2026I see.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cOk. Again. Nice to meet you.\u201d I hold out my hand. She reaches for it and uses a large portion of her body weight to squeeze. <\/p>\n

\u201cWas that better?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, you don\u2019t want your whole body shaking when you do it either.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI think I need exercise.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll keep at it. You\u2019re here for how long?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cOnly this week. I leave on this Saturday.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cAlright. At the end of the week, you\u2019ll have a handshake that doesn\u2019t seem like you\u2019re on life support.\u201d <\/p>\n

I showed her how to take uniform inventory and that kept her out of my hair for a couple of hours. She would come back once and a while to ask what, to some people, would be stupid questions. <\/p>\n

Around noon a call comes through from Mike\u2019s office, which was just next door. It was her. \u201cUmm I have a question. Do you know where can I go for lunch?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, there\u2019s Robson street<\/a> which is littered with way too many sushi restaurants. And there\u2019s Denman <\/a>\u2013 which is littered with way too many sushi restaurants.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cHah. Am I in Japan?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKind of, except here they\u2019re run by Koreans and Chinese, mostly. The Izakayas are usually Japanese though for some reason. There\u2019s other stuff there too like McDonald\u2019s and falafel places up there.\u201d <\/p>\n

I gave her directions. I was super busy with idiots sleeping on the job or not showing up and didn\u2019t see her till it was the end of her day, not mine. <\/p>\n

Yuka: \u201cHello. I will be leaving now. Do you have anything to say before I go?\u201d <\/p>\n

Me: \u201cI think we\u2019re good. Where\u2019d you go for lunch?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cActually, I got lost and just went to a caf\u00e9 I found across the street.\u201d Really? How do you get lost walking straight up<\/a>? <\/p>\n

\u201cHmm. Weird. Ok. Tomorrow, I\u2019ll show you, I guess.\u201d <\/p>\n

The next morning we checked on the noodle. <\/p>\n

Me: \u201cFirm! You practiced, didn\u2019t you?\u201d <\/p>\n

Yuka: Giggling, \u201cA little. I asked the people in my dorm to help me.\u201d <\/p>\n

“They did a good job!”<\/p>\n

“One girl is from Daegu in Korea. She said they make strong women there.” <\/p>\n

“Hah. That could be true.” <\/p>\n

She continued with the uniform count. Fast forward to lunch. We walked up Cardero. She was kind of a fragile woman borderline nourished, more towards nourished, though. At first glance she was somewhere between a blade of grass and a thing of straw. If you looked at her longer you’d probably say she was healthy enough to get by. I think we were about the same age, but I\u2019m not totally sure. <\/p>\n

We went to Robson Sushi. It\u2019s changed hands now and called something else. Of course, it\u2019s still a sushi restaurant. If there\u2019s something Vancouver has, it\u2019s sushi restaurants. I think I mentioned that. <\/p>\n

Me: \u201cSo where are you from exactly?\u201d <\/p>\n

Yuka: \u201cDo you know Saitama?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think so. Is that anywhere near Shimokitazawa<\/a>?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cKind of. Maybe one hour from Shimokitazawa. It\u2019s a burp.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cA what?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cUmm, maybe that is not the right word. I heard people say that before. \u2018Burps\u2019 maybe?\u201d <\/p>\n

Burps\u2026I sat on that for a bit. Burps, a place in a city, burps, burbs. Burbs! Oh, burbs! \u201cThe burbs! Suburbs! Hah! Ok, right. It’s more of a ‘b’ on the end, not a ‘p.’ Not a burp. Not this.\u201d I gulped some air and did a small one. \u201cIt\u2019s always weird to hear fobs say slang.”<\/p>\n

\u201cOh why?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI guess because I\u2019m expecting you to use basic words.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI am not basic. What is that? Fob?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWell, it\u2019s slang itself, actually. It\u2019s kind of an offensive word, some say, but it can be kind of cute to use with people you’re comfortable with. It stands for \u2018fresh off the boat\u2019 and it\u2019s what you call a person who comes here from a foreign country, usually Asia, and often that person\u2019s English is pretty bad and the way they dress is clearly different, maybe unusual, not necessarily weird, just different to locals, and they have certain ways of behaving that annoy people like they drag their feet a lot.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cBut I came on a plane.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWell, boat is used I guess to make the person seem kind of sad. It has a stronger effect that way.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cSo I\u2019m a fob to you?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWell, do you drag your feet?” <\/p>\n

She looked at the bottom of her shoes. “Not that much.” <\/p>\n

“Hmm…I don\u2019t know you that well, but your accent is decent and you use pretty advanced grammar and vocab. You have a good sense of fashion that isn\u2019t Harajuku<\/a> messed-up or anything. It is different but it is nice-different.\u201d It was a clean, form-fit look. \u201cSo I guess you could be fob-like without being totally fobanese. I just wasn\u2019t expecting you to know the term \u2018burbs. That\u2019s my fault.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cHah. Yes, yes. Right. This is your fault. You\u2019re a bad man. How do you know Shimokitazawa?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really into Japanese rock music and there\u2019s this famous place called Club Que<\/a> that I went to when I was in Tokyo. I saw a couple of gigs there.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cOh. I see. I like concerts too. I know Club Que also. It is famous, you\u2019re right. Small but intimate.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ok, pause. So there is this guy named Steve Tanaka<\/a> who puts on an event each year. He\u2019s a doctor by trade and he puts tens of thousands of dollars not to mention countless hours of his own time into this event. I look forward to it every year. So what is it? He brings about 5 bands over from Tokyo so that he can introduce contemporary Japanese music to people here. Now why am I bringing this up? Because I could invite her to the shindig on Friday. But I hardly know this woman. But it would be a nice thing to do and a nice, memorable experience, one of those foreign yet familiar experiences that can be pleasant. I remember when I lived abroad, people treated me with a lot of kindness. Pay it forward they say. She\u2019s nice enough, anyway, and I, as a superficial male, admittedly do find her attractive. But I would do the same if I didn’t. I would — I would. <\/p>\n

\u201cHey.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cHey.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cSo there\u2019s this guy Steve Tanaka<\/a> who puts on an annual event each year\u2026\u201d Good job: \u201cannual\u201d and \u201ceach year\u201d in the same sentence. I tell her what I told you minus the second half. Fast forward. \u201cSo what are you doing on Friday?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cHmm. Well, it\u2019s the day before I leave. So, maybe pack?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cOh right. When is your flight?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIn the afternoon.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, when though, exactly?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201c3 pm. I need to be at the airport by 1200. I think my school will drive me around 1100.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThose damn international flights. So much time wasted just sitting around. I was going to ask if you wanted to go to that concert.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cReally? How would I get home?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWhere do you live?\u201d Her school\u2019s downtown. How far could it be? Burnaby? I could just give her a ride. <\/p>\n

\u201cSurrey. Near King George Station.\u201d <\/p>\n

Are you serious? How does this happen? I live in Edgemont Village<\/a>. Well, you\u2019re in too deep now, dummy. <\/p>\n

\u201cOh. Ok. That\u2019s not too bad.\u201d It was<\/a>. \u201cI can give you a ride.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, thank you, so much. That\u2019s so friendly. Don\u2019t you have someone else to go with?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cNot really. Just some maybes.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI see. Well, thank you. I\u2019ll buy you lunch!\u201d <\/p>\n

We talked bands a bit more and headed back. It\u2019s a bit of a blur now, but I think she photocopied a bunch of stuff and filed for the rest of the day. I interviewed a woman with brown fingernails and dealt with a guy who didn’t show up for work because he lost his cat. <\/p>\n

On both Wednesday and Thursday, she sent me these cryptic emails that I think were indirectly asking me to lunch. Who can forget those. <\/p>\n

The first one:
\n\u201cAre you hungry? I\u2019m not sure if I am, but if you are, I might be. \u2013 Yuka\u201d <\/p>\n

The second one:
\n\u201cAre you hungry? You should eat. But I am not your mother. I am hungry. I\u2019m going to eat. But I didn\u2019t bring lunch. So I\u2019m going to eat outside. You might also want to eat outside if you are hungry. \u2013 Yuka.\u201d<\/p>\n

So we ended up having lunch together on both days. On Thursday: <\/p>\n

Me: \u201cDon\u2019t they have their own words for ‘I want to be with you’\u201d? <\/p>\n

Yuka: \u201cYes, we do.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThen they should use them in the song.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be fair, many languages borrow from others and use non-native words in their culture. It\u2019s just for fun. It\u2019s not that there\u2019s something missing in the local language or something better in the lender language. How many times have you heard ‘Bonjour’ in songs or in casual meeting? What\u2019s that movie song? \u2018Voolay vooka-shake a mwah<\/a>.\u2019 I think that is globalization. And you said \u2018ohayo\u2019 to me this morning.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI did do that. Well, it seems like they borrow English for their songs more over there than we borrow any other language over here for our music. My other issue is that so many times they use English and it\u2019s all wrong. If you\u2019re going to do something, you should do it right.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cYes. Well, that is a different issue. And I agree it should be done correctly.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI just don\u2019t think there\u2019s anything particularly special about English anyway. It just exists and we happen to use it.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIn Canada, you have a different view. It is a different perspective there. History has done a lot to shape the way we think and see the world and that includes how we see English and what English means to culture. Canada\u2019s history is not Japan\u2019s history. I am not saying that I like the way that English is used there. I do not. But I do understand why it is used.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was really starting to feel something for this woman. She said some interesting things. <\/p>\n

End of Friday rolled around. She finally finished counting uniforms. Usually the count takes a day, not 5. Oh well. If I cared, I\u2019d have cared. <\/p>\n

Mike: \u201cWhatchoo doing this weekend? Any plans?\u201d <\/p>\n

Me: \u201cUmm. Just dropping a friend off at the airport.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cRiiiight.\u201d <\/p>\n

What was that elongated \u201cright\u201d? He knew. No he doesn\u2019t. How could he know? Whatever. I\u2019m not going there. <\/p>\n

Me: \u201cHow about you?\u201d <\/p>\n

Mike: \u201cZoe\u2019s got another soccer game I\u2019m going to watch them lose, but dads gotta be dads.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cHah. Yes. Dad no fad.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cAre you making that a thing? You\u2019ve said that before.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIt could be a thing.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cCannot. I\u2019m leaving. Have a good weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

The concert wasn\u2019t too far off from now. It was at the Biltmore <\/a>again and we got in early. We looked around for some seats. <\/p>\n

There were a few stools around a heavy set, middle-aged father of 3 from Belgium who thought it was the night of the Beyonce tribute. He really liked Beyonc\u00e9 and missed his family. We talked at lengths about nothing special and I could understand nothing he was saying about the printing company he either works for or owned and then sold. <\/p>\n

Eventually, it was showtime. The night opened with Shiina Ringo<\/a>\u2019s cover of Spitz<\/a>\u2019s 8823. She had a weird two-part set. Next was \u2013 yes, this was really their name \u2013 Mass of the Fermenting Dregs<\/a>. They rocked the place. After that came Scandal<\/a>. They did their thing. Then Radwimps <\/a>blew up the place because that\u2019s what they do. Shiina Ringo came again to do a bit more and then it came time for Kinoku Teikoku [PLAY]<\/a> to close things out. <\/p>\n

There was a girl in the front row playing with her hair. What was she doing? Was she braiding? Who does that? Stop that! As the night went on, people were able to carve out spaces that offered better views of the stage. There were the people who pulled back the curtains more. There were some people sitting under the large speakers hanging above the stage which was obviously dangerous but those were some damn prime seats. Totally worth totally dying. There were the people who angled their way into spots and appeared to only need to take a picture but then overstayed their welcome and didn\u2019t care to move back. The Belgian dude left ages ago. To him, when it came to tunes, you were either with Beyonce or you were against Beyonce. A guy that got into a fight earlier because he was just too into things had calmed down. The big dude at the front of the stage was doing his thing making sure idiots didn\u2019t rush the stage. At the same time, he bobbed, and I think he was having a good time. <\/p>\n

We\u2019d moved away from the stools and were standing to the right of centre, away from crowd-surfing territory. <\/p>\n

As I listened I spaced out for a bit and started thinking. Did she really get lost that day? Was this all some kind of plan? A plan for what exactly, you idiot? Did she see something in me? I mean I think I have some positive traits. I know cream, chicken bouillon cube, and tarrragon make for a mean sauce. But could I be one of those \u201cFrom the moment I saw you\u201d stories? And if this is one of those, what could possibly come out of this? She leaves tomorrow. Long distance relationships are always doomed to fail. Or was that for older generations? They didn\u2019t have Internet. It’s different today. Anyway, how can I be this vain? She’s not interested. There’s nothing happening here. It’s just two people sharing a common interest in music. Done. <\/p>\n

As I reminded myself to stop thinking, it happened. It! I felt this hand. And I flinched! I did because I\u2019m dumb like that! She reached for my hand! She did that. She was doing it. It was happening. It was so. <\/p>\n

So what did I do? I brought her to be in front of me. Her height was perfect and I could just rest my chin on her head. We stood, swaying, eyes gazing at the performers on stage. At 4:10, she turned around, wrapped her arms around me, and rested her head against my chest. This song, the name to which I still don\u2019t know because my Japanese is as good as most people\u2019s outside of that country, instantly became the best thing to ever happen to me after her.
\n\"www.internationaljettrash.com\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We said \u201ceff it\u201d to the school’s bus and I drove her to the airport on Saturday. On the way we did sad but fun two-people \u201cChinese fire drills<\/a>\u201d but made a point to just call them \u201cfire drills\u201d and she waited in the airport for several hours because that\u2019s what people do at the airport. They wait around. And it sucks. <\/p>\n

That was 3 months ago. And after nights of Skyping and Google chatting about randomness from why anime characters keep looking younger and younger relative to their purported age, to how so many anime casts don\u2019t look like the people making the shows, to Fukushima <\/a>cover-ups and what to do about our food, one morning I peaced out from that office and booked a flight. <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what I\u2019m getting myself into, but radiation or not, here I come Abenomics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

–END for Now–<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the complete playlist to my made up concert put together for just this story. I recommend playing the songs in order. Note that Next Music from Toyko is an actual event<\/a>, however, and Kinoko Teikoku<\/a> and Mass of Fermenting Dregs<\/a> have both performed. This story is dedicated to Steve Tanaka<\/a> for inspiring this sort-of made-up story! <\/p>\n

Shiina Ringo\u2019s cover of Spitz\u2019s 8823 [PLAY] <\/a>
\nMass of the Fermenting Dregs [PLAY]
\n<\/a>Scandal [PLAY]<\/a>
\nRadwimps [PLAY]
\nShiina Ringo – Gibs [PLAY]<\/a>
\nKinoku Teikoku [PLAY]<\/a>
\n<\/a>
\nQuestions or comments<\/em>: info@weshareinterests.com<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span>
\nFollow us on Facebook<\/em>: facebook.com\/sharedinterests<\/strong><\/span><\/a>
\nFollow us on Twitter<\/em>: @interestsshared<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

| I used to work in a nice building downtown that was shown in a Tony Hawk game which means something to some and nothing to others. One summer there, I met a woman named Yuka. Mike: \u201cHey we\u2019re gonna have a temp here for a week, a student from one of those ESL schools.\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2866,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,31],"tags":[147,122,85,308,310,279,135,313,283,245,306,314,303,210,304,312,307,302,301,305,209,311,309,38],"class_list":["post-2821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature","category-literature-and-original-works","tag-asian-canadian","tag-asian-diaspora","tag-asian-diaspora-stories","tag-biltmore-cabaret","tag-burnaby","tag-chinese-canadian","tag-chinese-canadian-stories","tag-denman-street","tag-inter-asian-relations","tag-japan","tag-kinoku-teikoku","tag-life","tag-mass-of-fermenting-dregs","tag-next-music-from-tokyo","tag-radwimps","tag-robson-street","tag-scandal","tag-shiina-ringo","tag-shimokitazawa","tag-spitz","tag-steve-tanaka","tag-surrey","tag-sushi","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weshareinterests.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weshareinterests.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weshareinterests.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weshareinterests.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weshareinterests.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2821"}],"version-history":[{"count":75,"href":"https:\/\/weshareinterests.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3007,"href":"https:\/\/weshareinterests.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2821\/revisions\/3007"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weshareinterests.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weshareinterests.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weshareinterests.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weshareinterests.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}