Ka ni sa ra “DA”… Sushi for dinner

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We went to our favorite “neighborhood” sushi restaurant tonight. I like saying that actually, because it makes me feel like I belong here. That I have a place here in Japan. This is the restaurant we went to on our very first night living in Japan, almost four years ago.

The really heart-warming thing that happened tonight, was that when we walked in, two people said to us “Long time no see!” They have come to recognize us… to “know” us… as customers anyway. It has been a busy summer, and we just haven’t been to the sushi place much. And… they noticed!

It is a nice little restaurant… nothing fancy or pretentious… and most of the patrons there are Japanese. We rarely see anyone that isn’t Asian in this restaurant, and the menu is entirely in Japanese. They do have an English menu available, but it is limited. If you really want the full menu with all the options, you need to order from the Japanese menu.

It is actually a small place… a “sushi-go-round”… a conveyor belt sushi restaurant with the sushi chefs inside the conveyor belt area. They make plates (color coded by price) and place them on the conveyor. If what you want is not on the conveyor, you ask for what you want. “Sumimasen! Maguro onegaishimasu!” “Sumimasen! Tobiko onegaishimasu!” And… they will bring your plate to you.

It is a warm and friendly place… although with our elementary Japanese skills, it can sometimes also be a humbling experience. We have discovered some favorite items from their menu, but sometimes it is hard to order those items. We can read the katakana and hiragana characters on the menu, but much of the menu also has kanji characters as well. We can read some of those, but not nearly enough! So… sometimes ordering what we want can be an an adventure.

Tonight, for example, we wanted some ika with shiso (squid on rice, with a shiso leaf). So, I boldly asked: “Sumimasen, To-Ika, onegaishimasu,” expecting the usual “hai, so desu” (yes, ok). But I was greeted with a blank look. Ika? and what? After some consultation with the wait person, we found out that what we really meant to order was “Ko-Ika.” With that clarification, we soon had our squid roll with a shiso leaf…but the lessons weren’t over yet.

Another of our favorites is a crab salad roll. “Ka ni sa ra d(a),” (sort of dropping the “a”) I asked with my simplistic Japanese. Again, a blank look from the sushi chef. Again, after some discussion, I was instructed that I should have said “Ka ni sa ra DA” with some emphasis on the last syllable. And, just to emphasize the point, the sushi chef delivered the dish…Ka ni sa ra DA!

I think if nothing else, we provide some amusement for the staff and the other patrons. The couples sitting next to us got a good laugh… but it was good-natured, and I’m sure they were laughing WITH us, not AT us (lol).

We’ve learned a lot living in Japan. Our first trip to this restaurant, and we could barely get by using the English menu. Now, we can communicate in Japanese (albeit at a flawed, pre-school level). For us, it’s a leap forward…and another rewarding cultural experience in our adopted country.