Where Are We?

On Saturday, a friend of mine and I went to a farm and picked fruit. We decided to go to the grape section. You pay 900 yen ($9) for admission, and you can eat all the grapes that you want and take 3 bunches home with you. So, being the bargain shopper that I am... I ate 2 full bunches of grapes and took 3 bunches home with me. 5 bunches in all. They were so delicious.

After the fruit picking, we went to an izakaya (Japanese-style tapas restaurant) in Osaka. After a long time chatting and a few glasses of red wine (more grapes!), we decided to leave. A little tipsy from the wine, we walked outside and couldn't figure out where the station was. So I decided to use my Japanese on a homeless man sitting outside the restaurant. I mean, who knows the area better than a guy that hangs out there all day, right? So, I ask him, 'doko ni iru no?' which literally means "where am I?" Yes, I agree, its a ambiguous question, which is why he gave me a beautifully simple answer... he pointed to my feet and responded, "kono hen" which means "right around this area".

I wanted to show my gratitude for his wonderful response by giving him a bunch of grapes but Kiyoka wouldn't let me. She said "you paid good money for those grapes!" But, I now regret not giving him the grapes. He helped me realize that there can be such beauty in simplicity.