Pizza Delivery

月曜日1991年４月２９日

Ted Mack amazed me by ordering a pizza over the phone. I find it difficult to communicate on the telephone to Murakami-sensei even in English. I can't imagine trying to order a pizza in Japanese. He must be a regular customer, though, as they didn't have any trouble with his order or following his instructions to his apartment.

Of course, I don't really see the point of eating pizza in Japan. But we seem to be having an Austin reunion day here, just hangin out, eating pizza, and watching videos.

Ted's apartment is further away from Oita Station than I've been before, on the other side of the bar district. I only come to Oita to shop, not drink, so I'm pretty unfamiliar with anything beyond the shopping arcades. On our way back, M2 and I are heckled by drunken men. I don't feel afraid, as I would in the US, but we keep our distance. It's so different from my sleepy, little neighborhood in Kamegawa. I'm glad I wasn't assigned to Oita-shi. My neighborhood is so quiet (except for the motorcycle gangs racing along the beach highway at night) and friendly, and well, neighborly. I suppose it's not a good thing that Kamegawa's populated mainly by old people and children, even if I think it makes it quaint.

Still thinking about Ted's Japanese skills...I know he's speaking Japanese with a heavy accent because I can understand a lot of what he says. Is that why when foreigners are together they throw whatever Japanese words they know into the conversation? I think we're the only ones who can understand each other's Japanese.

Posted by M Sinclair Stevens
April 29, 2003

Comments

Of course, that was then...Currently Dr. Mack is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Asian Languages and Literature at the University of Washington of teaching Early Modern Japanese Literature. No wonder he could order pizza in Japanese!

I didn't know him very well. He was definitely in the "friend of a friend" category. He was a very nice guy, funny, and a good story-teller. But he never struck me as the academic type.

Further investigation reveals that he got his doctorate from Harvard in 2002 in Modern Japanese Literature... was team-teaching at Dartmouth College in 2000 and 2001...was organizing workshops at Harvard in 2002. And left his job as Program Administrator for the Institute of Medieval Japanese Studies at Columbia University in September of 1996 to pursue his doctorate. So what do I know?

Comment by: M Sinclair Stevens. Posted May 1, 2003 01:27 PM.

Share Your Thoughts

Name:


Email Address (not displayed):


URL: (optional)


Comment: