Welcome Parties

During my second weekend at Hitachi Chemicals some coworkers had a welcoming party for Bryan and me at a local izakaya (Japanese style bar). We ordered sashimi, noodles, and many other yummy things I cannot remember. This was also my first time trying real Japanese sake, and it was rather delicious. We all introduced ourselves in English so that my coworkers could practice their English-speaking skills. Then we basically spent the rest of the night eating, drinking, and talking about our travels, life in the Americas and in the Philippines, and how it compares to Japanese life. I also learned that I am definitely the youngest person at Hitachi Chemicals, granted I actually don’t work there. They taught me several words/phrases in Japanese that are more colloquial/slang and useful during conversations with friends.

In the middle of this party there was an earthquake, not massive or anything, but it still feels very…interesting. This was my third one while being in Japan and in my life (there were some in Mexico City when I interned there, but I was either sleeping or didn’t feel them for whatever reason so I don’t count those). Overall it was a fun-filled night and we all got to know each other a little better.

On March 18th my work group had my official welcome party after work. We took a chartered bus from work to an izakaya in downtown Tsukuba. Again my coworkers ordered a feast for me: sashimi, raw chicken, soup, yakitori, noodles, and many, many other things. Again I drank sake, another type of Japanese spirits, and Japanese beer. We talked about places in Japan, media, cuisine, and well a vast array of interesting topics. Then randomly this older coworker who calls me Feru-chan (and insists that I call him Hide-chan as opposed to Nakamura-san) sitting to my right commented that I look exactly like Johnny Depp (“Joni-de” in Japanese, similar to “Bura-pi” for Brad Pitt :p). Two female coworkers sitting at the end of the table excitedly agreed with him, that especially like Captain Sparrow. I think it was the fact that I was a foreigner with dark, long hair and facial hair that made them think that, but I thanked them anyway. I like Joni-de anyway, especially in Edward Scissorhands, which they hadn’t seen or heard of, but I’ll take Captain Jack. It was a wonderful party and after some toasts and some sort of welcoming song I gave them some obleas (a type of Mexican candy…if you didn’t know) from SATX and took some photos before returning to the bus.

Because it was a weeknight my boss was still busy with work so he unfortunately could not make the party. However, he held a second party at a different izakaya near the dormitory, so I went with some of my braver coworkers who were in the mood for more food/drink/conversation. At the after-party we had takoyaki, more raw chicken, and other traditional izakaya food. I asked a coworker to surprise me with drinks so he ordered some unknown green drink which was tasty (and had a somewhat fluorescent color) and another one with a sour plum in it. The conversations again covered a wide range of topics from amines to animes.

I feel welcome into this country, company, and culture although there are still many difference between us, as I am clearly a foreigner, an outsider. But at least I’m somewhat more integrated than a mere tourist and at the very least I had great conversations and a full belly.

I’ll leave y’all with a Hide-chan-ism. Basically I had told them how my great-grandfather was Japanese, but due to extraordinary circumstances I didn’t know where in Japan he came from. Hide-chan, upon hearing this, deduced that my hi-sofu was probably from the island of Kyushu since around that time many people emigrated from there, although mostly to Hawaii or Brazil. Furthermore, I have a lot of facial hair, and the Kyushu people are known to be hairier that the average Japanese. Having solved the mystery Hide-chan sat back and finished his nth cup of sake.