Fujii-san

One late night many years ago, my goods friends Sam, Rick and I were walking back to our Shinagawa area hotel after working during the day at Shinagawa "Seaside" and then taking a dinner somewhere in that area.  It was around 11:30 p.m., and we had already made a couple of stops for "refreshments" on the way back.  We were tired, full, and drunk.  The road we were walking down was the famous "Tokaido Road", one of my favorite walking and running roads in Tokyo.  Almost all of the shops were closed at this hour, and the road was dark.  Suddenly up ahead I spotted a small light stuck out in the road, which as we came a little closer turned out to be an Asahi beer sign.  Seeing that it was on, I said to the group that we must stop and check this place out for a "final final".  Sam and Rick were not too thrilled with my plan, but they could not resist the spirit of adventure.  There were no windows on this establishment, so Sam went first, his language skill being the bow of our ship.  We had arrived at the first time at the snack bar "Tampopo".

Besides the Master and the Mama-san, there were only two customers at Tampopo at that late hour that night.  A youngish, middle aged man was bent over a floor standing karaoke machine.  Behind him at the counter was a woman, his wife I suspected, who had a look on her face that said to me I hate karaoke but I am here to just support my husband.  The man was singing in almost perfect English a rock song from the 80's (I think it was either a David Bowie song or a Boz Scaggs song).  We jumped right in.  Two and a half hours later, we were on our way back to our hotel, with no stops in between (this time).

What happened that night was very memorable.  Aside from having another great karaoke session, we made two new friends in Fujii-san and his wife.  Neither of theme spoke any English, so Sam was the all important translator that helped make this mission a success.  Fujii-san likes to sing, and is quite good at it.  To this day I remain perplexed as to how he sings perfectly in English despite not knowing the language.  Does he have the songs/words memorized?  I'm not sure, but he is quite fun to be with at a karaoke session.

Since that fateful night, we have met again on a number of subsequent trips to Japan.  His wife has had one child during the process, and I am sure she has had her second by now as when I was last in Japan in November she was expecting.  She truly does not like karaoke, so my first impression that night was spot on.

Meeting Fujii-san and his wife that night was a very fortunate thing.  It is always a great thing when new friendships are made.  I would like to thank the Asahi sign for making it all possible.