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A Tachinomi Experience

An American and A Spaniard walk into a bar...

By CarolinePublished 2 years ago 3 min read
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A Tachinomi Experience
Photo by henry perks on Unsplash

“Welcome to Tachinomi.” Akio said to his college roommates Diego, who was from Spain and Thomas, who was from America. They walked into the bar right off the train station in the northern district of Tokyo, called Ochanamizu. Diego wanted to know the difference of this to Spanish tapas and Thomas was sold when he heard it was a casual after work atmosphere with cheap beer.

“What does that mean?” Thomas asked.

“‘Tachi’ means stand and ‘nomi’ means drink.” Akio explained and put his arm out to point down the bar where there was, in fact, a room full of men standing with beer in their hands. They were all smiling and speaking quickly in their native language.

“They look way too happy to be just getting off work.”

“That is because you are from America.”

“Touche.”

“Eigo menu?” Akio asked the staff member behind the bar. They were now standing shoulder to shoulder with the locals.

“What does that mean?” Thomas asked again, but didn’t have to answer when he was handed an English menu. Akio said something else to the staff member behind the bar and he proceeded to pour them a beer with a name that neither Diego or Thomas could pronounce even if they tried.

“What do you usually eat here?” Diego said, always hungry. His thick Spanish accent caught the eyes of the numerous men at the bar. The man in front of them, serving the drinks and cooking the meat and sticks also raised his eyebrow with interest.

Raising the beer to cheers of making it, the men down the bar started to talk to them in the best English they knew.

“Kushikatsu, for you.” One man said and looked at Diego. He pointed at the food in front of them. Diego looked at Akio. He finally understood what it was like for foreigners to be in his country when everyone only spoke Spanish and weren’t used to the customs. Akio laughed.

“Spanish tapas. It is seafood cooked in oil and garlic.”

“Ah, so like ajillo.” Diego didn’t say it, but he didn’t think it looked like a typical Spanish ajillo to him, but he wasn’t going to say anything.

“Yeah, arigato gozaimasu '' Diego said, having tried to learn how to at least say hello and thank you in Japanese before he arrived. He clearly didn’t do a good job because the man looked at him like he was crazy, but then smiled, bowed his head, and returned to his group of men down the standing bar.

“Nice try.” Thomas joked.

“Like you could do better. Here, eat that. That looks the most ‘American’” Diego pointed to the meat on the sticks. Akio and him both laughed. The man behind the bar pointed at the food too and then at Thomas.

“Clearly he agrees.” Akio said as the man proceeded to take two sticks, put it on a plate and hand it to Thomas. Thomas attempted to say thank you in Japanese too, but with little luck.

“What is this?” Thomas asked Akio, scared to try it but didn’t want to disrespect the staff member.

“Kushikatsu.” The man said, before Akio could speak.

“It is crumbled and grilled meat and vegetables.”

“What kind of meat?” Akio shrugged.

“Try it and you tell me.”

“I bet it will taste like chicken.” Diego said, dishing back from the earlier comments to him. The man behind the bar laughed again.

“An American and a Spaniard walk into a bar…” He said, then proceeded to speak in Japanese to the men nearest to him. They all started busting out laughing. Even Akio couldn’t help but laugh.

“What did they say?” Thomas asked. Akio shook his head, and proceeded to speak to the man behind the bar in japanese.

Before Thomas or Diego could order, the man, who hadn’t stopped smiling, placed a small white shot glass with clear liquid in front of them. Akio nodded and the man nodded, still smiling.

“He said this round is on the house and welcome to Tokyo.” Akio explained. Diego and Thomas didn’t believe him but they didn’t argue about free drinks.

“This is called nihonshu, a japanese sake. I asked for the reishu, or cold sake. Cheers men!” Akio took the lead, raised his sake, followed by the other men down the bar who were now also raising their sake glasses and cheering. Diego and Thomas followed the last of the domino effect. Everyone in the bar, including the staff member, all took their shot in perfect unison.

“It is like a shot-ski without the ski.” Thomas pointed out as the cold liquid went down his esophagus.

“Or like ‘around the world’ night at our fraternity.” Diego added.

“Or a normal evening in Tokyo, Japan.”

Short Story
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About the Creator

Caroline

My name is Caroline and I am an avid reader, writer and dreamer. I write for fun and to express all the crazy thoughts in my head. I love sharing my stories and experiences with others!

Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/user/caroline_1626

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