Month: Jul 2019

okanemochi, #2

gwynethtytLeave a comment

So, as I have previously mentioned via my encounter with Richie-san, okanemochi means rich person. Specifically, the word is made up of two parts: okane (money) and mochi (to hold/have) – that is, okanemochi literally translated means ‘to have money’.

Why am I telling you this? Because now that you know, you can appreciate the following incident that happened to my friend and I earlier at KFC.

KFC attendant: [In Japanese] Are you having your meal here?

We wanted to take away our food, so we replied simultaneously.

Friend: Mochikaeri (lit. take home)

Me: OKANEMOCHI!

One of us was wrong. Tragically, it was me, who had yelled RICH PERSON at the attendant out of NOWHERE. I swear her face twitched in confusion. My friend looked at me in disgust, appalled. I could not decide if I wanted to cry or laugh, so I apologised instead. Congratulations to me for perfecting the art of the baka gaijin.

Joke explained: my friend and I built on the same root phrase mochi (to take), but headed in wildly different directions from there. Language construction is a magical thing. Okay, it’s not as funny in writing as in person, but whatever. Mochi a sense of humour, y’all.

okanemochi

gwynethtytLeave a comment

When you get enough bits and pieces of information on somebody, you can form a coherent, if slightly biased, image of them. Take for example, one of my classmates, Richie*:

  1. His hobby is visiting arcades all over Tokyo to play the UFO claw catchers (the bane of my existence).
  2. He has a formidable collection of prizes from those machines.
  3. He easily spends more than 10,000 yen (SGD$125) on those claws in one sitting if he’s not careful.
  4. He lives in a hotel.
  5. In Ginza.

The man is okanemochi. Like rich, but I suspect beyond rich. He’s so rich that he doesn’t deny it. I paraphrase a conversation overheard in class the other day:

Sensei: Sugoi, Richie-san, ryoushin ga okanemochi desu ne? (Your parents have money, huh?)

Richie: Ah… hai. (Yes.)

Zero attempts to hide it were made.

Now that’s a mood.

*not his real name

excerpts, #1 (interlude/escapade)

gwynethtyt1 Comment

really though, it’s hard to overstate how much I’m enjoying myself here. i’m still the same old me, tardy and awkward, but in a new place with new people — and it’s made a world (country?) of difference. here, we accept each other’s kinks without judgement (well, for the most part), we share the same sense of wack humour, as well as the same glossy-eyed appreciation for the Japanese language and culture. it is good. and there are so many books. i hope this isn’t the pinnacle experience of my existence because i would be sad to see it end. just like this manga that sparks me joy, just like how beautifully it is illustrated, i hope it can always be this way for us too.