Aoi Hitorigoto n.56 - TRANSLATION-
AOI HITORIGOTO #56
- Confusing -
By Kato Shigeaki
Right now I'm writing this on the plane bringing me back in Japan from New York. It was my second time in NY, the first time was 2 years ago. That time too I wrote an essay about NY. The title was "Confusion" I think.
A friend of mine had to go to NY for work and since my holidays matched his trip we decided to go together. He lived in NY for around two years in the past so he could show me the city smoothly, besides the Yen was stronger than the Dollar then, so it turned to be a very gracious, luxurious trip.
We went to eat Vietnam food in a place similar to Tokyo's Shimokitazawa in Brooklyn, we ate Italian food and Bagels in a local, adultish restaurant, we dared to eat Japanese food too. Well, it seems we did nothing but eat. Actually for Japanese people it's pretty difficult to find something to eat matching our tastes.
I also had some time on my own, I tried to visit the setting places in NY of the book that I read this year and left a deep impression inside of me, Salinger's "Catcher in the rye". I also wandered in the locations of American dramas, just like an OL, I visited the Natural History Museum, the Grand Central Station and I saw the merry-go-round in the Central Park. Of all things, the merry-go-round was under construction but just thinking that Holden and Phoebe had been there made me truly happy. For a while it rained just like in the novel, people everywhere started to run away in a big rush but feeling like Holden, all haughty, I stood a little smirking spontaneously. I think I must have looked crazy. Somehow it was a good moment though. Really.
Walking back inside the Central Park I saw a squirrel so I wanted to take a picture of it. I tried many times in vain, then an American old couple patted my shoulder and they told me to stay silent with hand gesture - "Shh". After that the old woman took out from her bag a simple plastic bag, she took it between her thumb and index finger and started rubbing the bag producing a light sound. Hearing that the squirrel came little by little closer to us. Maybe he thought we were going to feed him. Thanks to them I could take a picture of the squirrel for a very short distance, when I told the couple "Thank you" they answered smiling "You're welcome". Now that I think about it maybe I should have taken a picture of those smiles instead of the squirrel one. They were so warm.
At night I could see the night scenary of the Brooklyn Bridge. Just that day I forgot to charge my digital camera though, I could take picture of it only with my phone camera. Well, thanks to that now I have a pretext to come back to NY one day. Another pretext is that I couldn't visit the MoMA because it was closed on those days.
My friend taught me how to not pronounce "Tii" when I find a "TT" in English words. For example, "Manhattan" is "Manhahan", "Cotton" is "Cohon", "Button" is "Bohon". This turned into a little joke for us, in the end we started to attach that sound to every word completely ignoring the rules. Like "Hoteruhun" or "Beguruhun", "NY Saikohon! (NY the best!)". Ahahah, so stupid.
The NY of 2 years ago and the NY I've seen this time looked different, I don't know if it's the city that changed or if it's me. The impression I had last time was of a city solid, cool as a mineral but this time I saw it as beautiful, gorgeous and luxurious. I look forward to see what impression it will give me next time.
The main point on my essay "Confusion" last time was: "American Pizza is NY, no matter how many times I ate it. NY isn't for New York but for Nazeka Yamerarenai (Why I can't stop?)...Sorry for this." ...So stupid.
Let's do that again...yes, I feel once again in it!! Next time I'll go there I'll better just keep NY as NY. Next time I'll go there I could say that New York is "Nihon no fukeiki ni eikyou shinai teido no Yen takai (Yen is strong, not influenced by Japanese hard times)" or "Nanimokamo ga Yasuku kaeru (I can buy anything with little money)"... As expected, I'm truly sorry for this.
Notes:
-OL - It's Office Lady, going throught all those touristic/famous places is like an office lady in vacation.
-Holden & Phoebe are the main characters of "Catcher in the rye"
-He wrote "Thank you" and "You're welcome" as Senkyuu and Yua uerukamu LOL
-The TT pronounce thing is kinda difficult to explain XD Let's say that Japanese people don't have the sound "TI" so the double T words are kinda difficult to them, that's just a little trick to say them more naturally ^^
-"Hoteruhun" is Hotel and "Beguruhun" is Bagel.
-On the last paragraph he just plays with NY to form phrases =_= Thanks for your apologizes Shige.
I realized that probably I won't have much time in the next two days to post so I'll give you here and now my best wishes for an happy, funny, warm Christmas ^_^ Spend a nice time and eat a lot! :D
I love you all from the bottom of my heart <3