When I arrived at New Orleans I talked about this bitter experience with my Japanese friend N who has been living there for a long period. Then he explained to me saying as follows.

“Ah, I feel pity for you, Mr. Shimizu. Anyway, if it had been a human being he would have understood what you were going to transmit. But the machine cannot do it and react automatically “NO”. In addition to this, for Japanese, it is very difficult to distinguish the pronunciation of [R] and [L]. In this case, this is the [L] of ATLANTA and [R][L] of NEW ORLEANS. I had a same kind of experience. In the first days of my stay in the US, when I said <I like rice>,  <rice> of what that we eat almost everyday, it sounded like <lice>, which dwells on our body and makes us itchy.

     So my friend made fun of me saying; “Hey, fellows, listen! N says that he likes lice very much. Don’t stay near him!”

     The proper pronunciation of English is our task that will last forever!

 Japanese food is healthy, but if you eat like this way…

     One of the strongest impressions of the US in my first visit in ten years was that the number of fat men and women has increased enormously. Their bellies have become inflated and their hips have swollen and they look enormously heavy. I saw so many Americans, men and women who like Sumo-wrestler Konishiki. It seems to me during my stay, more than one in ten Americans are like this. The heavy weights move slowly and add more burden both to their legs and internal organs. They are walking toward a short life. It seems to me it is a national disease of Americans.

     I think, this comes from food abundance. But I think that it also comes from the tendency of over eating. For example, the size of a cup to take soft drinks is far bigger than that in Japan. They pour drinks to full. Under such circumstance, it has been said that Japanese food is healthy and, foods such as Sushi and Sashimi, has become popular even among Americans.

     At the last evening of my stay in the US, I entered a Japanese restaurant in New Orleans. There were about 50 visitors. 90 percent of them looked American and less than 10 were Japanese. Checking the menu, I   ordered SUSHI DINNER. It was 16 dollars in total including some appetizer and Miso soup.

    When it was served in front of me, I was surprised to see the Sushi plate. The diameter of the plate was more than 30 centimeters. In the center of the plate, there were 8 Nigiri-shushi, rice balls covered with Sashimi and shrimp, and then there were 10 small Sushis made with rice ball, tuna fish and seaweed, on each side of the center. Seaweed was rolled inside the Sushi and the rice was put on top. There were 20 rolls in total.

     Although the taste was pretty good, the quantity was too much. It seemed like it was intended for 2 persons when compared with that in Japan. I tried to finish them but I had to leave half of them untouched. I watched carefully the TEMPURA DINNER that two Americans ordered at the next table. I saw such huge quantity of Tempura. It was like a small mountain in a big plate. At that moment, I wondered if they could ever eat them up all.

     I felt, I would like to advice them, saying as follows; “You did come to Japanese restaurant all this way because you believe Japanese food is healthy. I would like to recommend you to order less quantity. That will be good not only for your health but also for your purse”.

     Is this too meddling for me on my part, American folks, I owed this to you for my stay in the US?