Memories of Japan: Email "Sent: 24/8/07"

Imagine for a moment that you are sitting on a train. a young woman opposite you sits down. she's obviously not from around these parts. she looks distinctly "foreign". As you are on a train, and stranger observation is a given, you don't look away when she reaches into a bag and takes out a banana. She looks at the banana with obvious anticipation in her eyes. Without first peeling it, she brings it up to her mouth whole and just as her teeth are about to sink into the thick skin, something deep down inside you calls out: "AREN'T YOU GOING TO PEEL IT FIRST!". It was a gut reaction. You didn't mean to say it...but could you really have let her bite into a banana without warning her first? The woman looks up in obvious surprise. The young man standing next to her reacts first: "oh, it's ok. that's the way we eat bananas where we're from." at this point, half the carriage is looking at him, with unconcealed curiosity. He goes on to explain to his captivated audience that they eat the skins of many fruits. Grapes, pears and so on. The carriage nod sagely at this nugget of information. The young woman looks at you apologetically, smiles, and slowly bites into the banana, not showing any displeasure at the texture or taste of the skin. You, along with the rest of the carriage, watch the girl progress through the banana, and half heartedly but unsuccessfully try to guard your incomprehension. you smile at the woman and file the incident away in your memory, for relating to friends and neighbors in the near future.

the real story is that i (the foreign woman)bit into a whole peach! the rest of the story is exactly as happened! the reaction of the woman sitting opposite me was so impulsive and so strong, that i could only understand it if i substitued the peach in my brain with a banana.
It's so strange for me to think that I have been here an entire year, and am only now learning that people usually peel their peaches before eating them. who'd a thunk it! it makes me happy that i have decided to stay on here for a second year! i feel like i still have sooo much to learn! lots of it food related! i am without doubt head over heels in love with japanese food!

incidentally, the peaches here are huge, delicious and almost overflowing with sweet juices. seriously. they are good. i can't stop eating them. regardless of the fact that they cost about a euro each. sometimes more. i also can't stop chanting my newly learnt tongue twister: sumomo mo momo mo momo no uchi. (plums and peaches are part of the peach family)