Posted November 13, 2011 by Jonelle Patrick Just another day in Japan

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

This is the handout I got today at my Japanese school. Once a week we’re subjected to Business Japanese. Recently we had to write an essay on “What Is Your Dream?” and I was seriously tempted to write, “My dream is to never get a job at a company where I have to use the honorific form on a daily basis. Or ever, for that matter.”

So while I was trying my best to figure out how to tell B-san (who is my superior, despite the fact that his name is B-san) that I was having difficulty communicating with the technical department about the new product development project, my attention kept straying to that guy’s ARM. I was wondering what the sensei would say if I changed the dialogue to read, “I am having trouble communicating with the technical department because I am an ALIEN.”

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Read a novel set in Tokyo

In the wake of a deadly earthquake, fans erupt in a frenzy of mourning when it’s discovered that their favorite pop star is among the dead. But when Detective Kenji Nakamura is sent to investigate a death at a local shrine, he finds evidence that suggests the impossible: How could the head priest have been murdered by…*read more*

Jonelle Patrick View All

Writing mystery books set in Tokyo is mostly what I do, but I also blog about the odd stuff I see every day in Japan. I'm a graduate of Stanford University and the Sendagaya Japanese Institute in Tokyo, and a member of the International Thriller Writers, the Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters In Crime. When I'm not in Tokyo, I live in San Francisco. I also host a travel site called The Tokyo Guide I Wish I'd Had, so if you're headed to Japan and want to check out the places I take my friends when they're in town, take a look!