Ancient Japanese Secret: Sake cures all!

Just to let everyone in on a little secret - "Baby" (aka Will) and "Sweetie" (aka Tracy) do argue - not that often, but now that I'm thinking about it it is usually in the morning after "Sweetie" has just woken up - hmmm pattern? And I always thought "Sweetie" was a morning person. So after arguing with Will yesterday morning about getting something translated incorrectly, we both realized how out of "control" we felt living in Japan (Sweetie especially feels this way) - we rely much more so on our Japanese friends and colleagues than we ever did in China. Case in point - Will's goal (only recently fulfilled) was to be able to make a copy at work without asking for help - me on the other hand was wanting to be able to take Finn to the doctor for his vaccinations by myself (and have the paperwork translated in advance). Of course, after announcing my upcoming independent adventure to the all Japanese hospital, our friend Toshi agreed but added "okay you can go by yourself, but I'll still follow you just in case." :) I smiled and of course was eternally grateful that he came with Finn and me to the hospital because - yeah of course there were more questions that I would have needed his help with anyway.

I really wasn't so into the independence thing as much as wanting to give Toshi and Kimiko a break from being everyone's Japanese Tour Guide! Seriously - after having all of our visitors come and go - Will, Finn and I are pooped and finally on the mend (Will and I have both been battling a flu bug the last few weeks). So it is amazing to me that Toshi and Kimiko still have all the energy they do. The other day I called Toshi the "Engergizer Bunny." But then had to explain to him that was a compliment (Oh our American commercial culture).

So on our train ride back from the hospital yesterday, Toshi was giving me more tour guide tips on where to go and how to get there. I finally said - Toshi - how do you and Kimiko do it - stay young with all this energy? Is it a lot of walking (exercise) and a lot of alcohol or what? He said "Oh no - no - only a 'reasonable' amount of alcohol is needed." I bite and say - okay - what is reasonable - give me your Ancient Japanese Secret already...

"Well - each evening - I decide what is reasonable. "

Priceless