Question 1

I saw one of my old drinking friends in Saidaiji Station a few weeks ago. We originally met in the gym near the station back in 2009 or 2010. We were happy to see one another, but we were both in a hurry because our trains were coming. So, we didn't talk much.

Question 2

I am married. We have been married over ten years and we dated for about five years before the wedding. We were introduced by a mutual friend. The friend invited us both over to her house for dinner. She had to do that three times before I finally got the hint and asked Chitose on a date.

Question 3

I once met Bob 'The Beast' Sapp. He was the special guest at a spicy nabe party being hosted by a pro wrestling friend of mine, in Kobe. The Beast was a VERY nice man. He spoke to, signed autographs for, and posed for pictures with everyone at the party - and also every member of the kitchen staff - before he sat down to eat. After he finished eating, he spoke to me for a long time about weight lifting and training. I have met a number of famous wrestlers and fighters since moving to Japan, including Bob Sapp, Masa Chono, Atsushi Onita, and Akira Hokuto. Without exception, they were very kind and friendly to me.

Question 4

I have a job here at English-Please! I found out about this job on facebook.

Question 5

The second time we came to Japan, my wife booked a hotel in Nara because we wanted to go to Uji City and hotels in Uji are too expensive. By accident, she booked the Super Hotel near Shin Omiya station instead of the one near JR Nara Station. That night, we went out to an izakaya near the hotel and had a very good time. Later, when we were deciding where to live in Japan, I suggested that the Shin Omiya area in Nara might be a good place to live. We have now been living in Nara for over ten years.

Question 6

I am never entirely sure whether I believe in fate or luck... I prefer to believe that we have freedom of choice and some degree of agency in our own life... but on the other hand, I think that I have always been very lucky and some things in my life certainly feel like they were meant to happen. Maybe life works through some kind of combination of fate, luck, and choice.

Tough Vocabulary

- English -	- Japanese -
mutual friend	共通の友人

Question 1

I honestly don’t remember. I don’t go out much and since I moved to Yao City three years ago, I don’t know anyone in my local area. I’m sure I have bumped into people from my past before but no one comes to mind.

Question 2

I am married. This year will mark our ninth wedding anniversary although we’ve actually been together for something like seventeen years. I met my wife at her thirtieth birthday party. I was a guest of her friend’s boyfriend, someone I worked with at the time. I met her again at a nightclub two months later and asked her out. I think I said something like “Hey, remember me?”

Question 3

When I was a university student, I was at a protest and I saw a comedian/radio personality I knew and liked. I looked away for a moment and when I looked back at him, he was looking right at me. It was a little creepy, actually! Under the circumstances, I didn’t go over and introduce myself.

Question 4

I have a job. I’ll give you one good guess what that is. If you’d like to know more about it, please go back and read my composition for Year 1 Lesson 01!

Question 5

My name is James Usher. I grew up about fifteen minutes down the road from another guy named James Usher. Apparently we went to the same doctor and the same dentist among other things. Any time I made an appointment somewhere, people would say “Okay, so that’s James Scott Usher?” To which I would reply “No, James Andrew Usher”. It happened so often it stopped surprising me. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why we westerners have middle names.

Question 6

Not really. There’s a quote from the movie “Terminator 2” that I always kind of liked: There is no fate but what we make. I guess I’m more of a determinist.

Tough Vocabulary

- English -	- Japanese -
come to mind	思い浮かぶ
mark	画する
protest	プロテスト
a little creepy	少し気味が悪い
under the circumstances	状況下で
guess	推測
down the road	道を下って
apparently	どうやら
among other things	とりわけ
quote	引用文
determinist	決定論者

Question 1

I went to the Thai festival at Osaka-Jo Koen. I bumped into a guy from San Franciso named Jim. He has been in Japan for 20 years. The last time that I met him was at a Hanshin Tigers game at Koshien Stadium. He didn't remember me at first, but we eventually remembered meeting before. This is very common for gaijin in Japan because there are so few of us, and we often go to the same places.

Question 2

Yes, I am married. My wife's name is Chihiro. She is from Osaka. She was studying photography in Boston when we met. It was totally by happenstance! We met at the supermarket at around 2:00 A.M. I was a bartender in Boston, so I often shopped in the early A.M. My wife asked me if I could reach something high on the shelf at the supermarket. I did, she was a little shy, but she asked me if I could tell her where she could buy Japanese products in Boston. My apartment was next to a Japanese/Korean market. The next day we met there and started hanging out, and shopping, cooking and going to concerts together. If this one moment didn't happen, I would never be living in Japan today!

Question 3

I have met many famous people. When I was bartending in the lower East of Manhattan I would see a famous person almost every weekend. The most surprising was Tom Cruise. He always portrays a strong character in his movies like "Mission Impossible", but he is a very short unassuming person. He is handsome, but you would never have guessed that he was a movie star!

Question 4

I'm an educator as you all know. I found this job on gaijinpot.com

Question 5

I've had many small coincidences good and bad. I think meeting my wife and getting married is by far the most pivotal.

Question 6

I do believe in fate. I have always let my life sort of happen, instead of trying to make big life decisions. If you let things happen, fate will take over

Tough Vocabulary

- English -	- Japanese -
pivotal	極めて重要
portrays	描写
shelf	棚
unassuming	控えめな