2011/03/11 - the tsunami

Starring at the phone didn’t help. Luckily my other friends were okay, but still no signs of life from Hiro. I researched about the tsunami and the areas which were hit by the huge wave. The information which I’ve found didn’t really help. Actually they worried me more and more.

Around 2 p.m. my phone started to peep. I received a message. Before I opened my mobile phone, I hold it close to my heart hoping it was him. And it was him! “Thank you. I’m okay. The tsunami came close to our home. We’re escaping.“

Of course the message wasn’t all about good news but he was alive! But this wasn’t the time to feel relieved. You all know what happened after the earthquake and the tsunami. Right, there was still this nuclear problem. As if an earthquake and a tsunami weren’t already too much …

I watched the news 24/7 but there were no major changes. Except for my personal life: One day after the tsunami, skype showed me that I’ve received a message from no one else than Hiro! 

Hiro: “hello”

I: “HIRO! Are you okay? Is your family okay and your friends? Are they all alive?”

Hiro: “It’s okay. Everyone is save now.“

I was happy to hear this great news. We also exchanged our knowledge about the current situation. Soon we recognized that neither our media nor their media told the truth. The TV-stations here did everything in order to create a panic and the TV-stations over there did everything in order to cloud the issues. Nice.

After some time, Hiro’s mood started to change. He got really sad and I guess a little bit scared of all the happenings.

Hiro: “I would like to be in your home country now. I wanna be with you.”

I : (ah! No problem! I save you! With my body!) “It’s okay, you can come to me! My mum was also worried about my friends, there shouldn’t be a problem“

Hiro:  “Wouldn’t your dad kill me?”

I : (I was slightly confused… why should my dad kill him? Because he was so unbelievable good-looking?): “Why?!”

Hiro: “Because I had sex with you.”

I: (As if I went to my dad and told him: hey I’ve been in a love hotel with a host! Haha!): “I told them that you are a friend.”

Hiro: “Ah, I see, hehe. If I come to you …. It could be that I never see my family again. It’s a bad feeling.”

I : “It’s okay! You can bring your family along!“ (yes, my family has a big heart)

Hiro: “How many houses do you own?!?!”

I: “One apartment! But it’s an emergency! It should be okay!“

Hiro: “Do you have thick walls?“

That little rascal! Tss, tss in times of emergency, his libido is still working perfectly. 

After our conversation he went offline again. I felt happy that he tried to contact me. Though it was a terrible time, I think it brought us closer. 

We chatted a few days later too. Somehow it calmed me down to write with him and I guess he somehow felt the same. Once I told him about my plans to go to Japan during summer. “It’s too dangerous! You would be in danger! I guess it’s better for you to stay home, though I want to meet you.” He was worried about me. What a pleasant feeling.

Soon (well it felt like eternity!) the danger was almost under control. 

Spring came and Hiro decided to buy himself a great new car: a Lexus! And he “annoyed” me constantly with this information by showing me a lot of photos (who all looked the same….). In return of this super car photos which fascinated the hell out of me (/irony off), he wanted me to send him sexy photos. Actually “sexy photos” wasn’t right word. He wanted nude photos! Yes, you heard it right.  I refused and sent him other photos. He was still happy about them. And I was out of the woods! 

It has 4 tires, a wheel.... it's a .... car! Wow....

We also planned our summer meeting. He wanted to visit with me a theme park and ride the steepest rollercoaster in the world. How romantic! Haha, at least I could die close to him. Or I would throw up on him. Both possibilities weren’t so attractive to me. But hey! Rollercoasters!

source: likecool.com, world steepest rollercoaster

I was looking forward to meet him again! The only thing left were my super-duper-lucky short pants which I didn’t see since last year! This was strange… I loved these pants! They were sexy and … sexy!

After I looked for them in my room (which after that looked like the end of a war), I asked John. I lived at his place last year, so they must be at his home!

I: “Have you seen my short pants? They are black with a lot of lace?”

John: “Yes, I’m wearing them right now!”

I: “Eww, no jokes about that! If you want something to remember me, then just ask for a shirt!”

John: “I could use a matching top though.”

Nice. So it wasn’t at Johns place…. No….. noooo! It can’t be at HIS place! Well, I wore my short pants definitely there but… NOOO…. I can’t ask HIM that! I can’t…. I

I: „Hiro, I know it’s a strange question, but have you seen my pants?“

Hiro: “Yes, they were at my home. I kept them.”

I: (Insert shocked reaction here and the word: “Japanese…”): “Can you return them to me in summer?”

Hiro: “Okay hehe”

No reply

I wanted to meet him again. Unfortunately he didn’t take a vacation, that’s why he was busy with work. Damn you, Japanese work! Why do you keep handsome men so busy?!  Well, it was still time before I had to leave Japan and Hiro wrote me a mail full of enthusiasm: “If we’re able to meet again, I will pick you up! I’m sorry that I didn’t take a vacation.” It should work out for us, I thought…

 

---

The days flew past and I found myself sitting in a train. I typed my last message for him before I arrived at the airport. Honestly-spoken, I forgot what this message was about but I know that I’ve told him my skype address and the fact that I like him very much. 

But somehow things got strange. Even when I arrived home, there was no message from him. I thought it was my entire fault somehow (though I didn’t know why). That’s why I decided to write him a message on Ameblo. This mail contained a lot of questions and assumptions, as “Do you just want to misuse me? Do you hate me? Just tell me straight, so I can move on!” After sending this message, I went to an anime event. Though there was still this bittersweet feeling, I could enjoy the time with my friends and decided to stop thinking about Hiro.

But well, none of my plans worked out so far… neither this one. As soon as I returned home, I decided to skype with Liz. But there was a friends request from someone who I didn’t know.

This friends request said “Hi! This is Hiro! Sorry for the late reply.” I immediately fell from my chair.  And it got even better! As soon as I accepted his friends request, he sent me a link to his Nico Nico Douga show. I clicked on it without thinking how dangerous this link actually was.

And of course something happened: my slip smashed with supersonic speed right through my window! Oh god, he was so hot! Aaaahhhh! Didn’t I want to forget him? Ah, fuck it! 

Suddenly he started speaking with his deep voice (I slipped off my chair): “Are you watching?” Gosh! Of course  I was watching! And I was happy no one was watching me! After I typed a „yes“, he continued: „I’m sorry about blablablablabla, I’m sorry about this too, I’m sorry about being so fucking awesome and hot!“ Okay, I made up the last part… because I just was able understand “gomen nasai” (I’m sorry) all the time but I didn’t understood about what he was apologizing. I was simply too busy with drooling. Well, I think he was apologizing about the whole Japan situation. It was really nice of him. But nevertheless, I decided to reduce the contact with him. I had to concentrate on my university stuff… 

source: Hazuki Kanae's "Ai no Koe", edited by me

I felt happy with my life. Of course I hoped to see him again and I actually planned to fly to Japan during my March holidays but I had’nt enough money for this. 

When life starts to become nice, you always know that something terrible is about to happen. In this case: A tsunami came.

I still remember the day like it was yesterday. My mum woke me up early and told me that there was a tsunami in Japan. “There are a lot of tsunamis”, I thought but I decided to follow my mum to the living room. The TV was switched on. There were rice fields. Hiro’s family also lived surrounded by rice fields.

 A huge wave came and washed everything away. 

My mum told me something. I couldn’t hear it. 

I starred at the news. 

There was no hint from which area this footage came. A lot of people have died. I ran into my room, looked for my mobile phone and wrote a message to Hiro: “A big tsunami came to Japan. Are you okay?” 

He wasn’t online.

I couldn’t do anything but wait.

Don't let me go

Hiro received a mail from someone. This mail made him so mad that he went outside and chopped wood(?). At least it sounded like this. I was worried and told Shinji to go outside to him because they were friends. (Actually I didn’t want to have an axe in my face). 

Both returned after some minutes. Hiro sat down close beside me. I hugged him and tried to calm him down. It seemd to work – at least for some minutes. Then he suddenly stood up and pulled the blanket on which I sat away. I was shocked and starred at him. Our eyes met.  Hiro also was shocked because he seemed to recognize that he scared me. “I think you should go back to John’s house today. I will drive you. Please try to call him. You wouldn’t be happy with me today. I want you to have a great evening.” Again, he left the room. 

Something within me broke. This whole situation caused something unexpected to me. I started crying in front of another person: Shinji. I couldn’t stop my tears. What was that? I was never a super-emotional type of human. My dad used to tell me “Don’t cry, it won’t help you anyway.” That’s why I didn’t cry so often and never so much. But now, everything was different. Shinji was also shocked now. I tried to explain myself but only the words “It’s over, it’s over” came out of my mouth.

Shinji finally started to talk: “It’s not over. You know, Hiro always tries to solve problems on his own. He was always this way. But I think you are going to meet each other again. It’s not the end. Look, you both are so lovely together!” My tears really stopped from these words. Instead of crying, I asked him “Can I hug you?” He nodded and I gave him a big teddy-bear-hug.

I packed my stuff and all of us three were about to go to Tokyo. Before our trip really started, Hiro stopped at a conbini.

Hiro: “What do you want to drink?”

I: “Nothing.” (I wasn’t sad anymore; I was angry and worried now)

Hiro: “You have to drink something. It’s going to take about an hour.”

I: “No!”

Hiro: (he turned around to Shinji) “Could you buy me coffee and peach flavored water?” (He knew that I love this drink… so he was concerned about my health… nice… didn’t make it better! But it was really cute).

Shinji left the car. 

Hiro: „How are you?“

I: „I’m worried about you…“ (I looked straight outside)

Hiro: „But you can spent a funny evening with John! You can’t have fun at my home tonight.“

I: “I am always happy when I’m with you…” (I started to look at him)

Hiro: “Thank you. Can I kiss you?” (He didn’t wait for my answer and kissed me twice).

We continued our “journey” after Shinji returned to the car. I got really tired and closed my eyes. No one spoke a word. Suddenly Hiro started to say sadly: “Oh no! Here’s Disney Land, I wanted to show her the lights… but she fell asleep…” I immediately opened my eyes and looked through the window. It was so beautiful. The lights gave me some hope.

Maybe Shinji was right, maybe I’m going to see him again. The nice human teddy bear also gave me a rice ball during our trip. I was so thankful to him.

The onigiri which I got from Shinji

When we arrived at the parking slot close to John’s apartment, Hiro asked me if he can accompany me back to John. I denied this offer. My pride was too strong and I was still angry. From a present-day perspective, I really, really regret my decision back then because it was the last time I’ve seen him. I went to John, without looking back and without telling him how much he means to me. 

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Because of one of my Japanese friends, I recognized the songstress Kato Miliyah who just makes the perfect soundtracks for my life. Her song "I love you" matches this blog entry really well. So here it is. 

(a small part from the English translation of this song)

We spent so much time together
But now I am all alone amidst the memories
Your memory fades in
And out of this room
I want to see you, but I can’t; it hurts

You swore your love for me on a summer day
Your hand grasping mine was warm
And you tightly embrace me
I loved you so very much

I prayed that you wouldn’t leave me
You said to me,
“We’ll always be together”
So why? Where are you?

*Are you no longer here?
Can we no longer visit the sea?
I wanted us to stay together forever

**Can we never meet again?
Won’t you call me ever again?
I will love you forever

(source: http://www.jpopasia.com/lyrics/38200/miliyah-kato/last-love.html)

Shinji, my hero!

So we all went together to the supermarket in order to buy food. My stomach was still filled with love and that’s why I wasn’t really hungry. I really hope he didn’t think that I was on a strict diet or so. Well, we went through the vegetables area and I talked with Shinji about several topics. Suddenly Shinji said “Oh! I want to marry a [insert my home countrys name here] girl!” I smiled. 

Hiro heard this conversation and interrupted our conversation: „Yes, you can do it but you can’t marry her because she’s going to marry me. Right?”, he looked at me. Even if it was just a joke, I felt so happy. My heart jumped up and down. “Yes, of course”, I laughed a bit and he joined me.

After Hiro paid his stuff, he wanted me to follow him outside. “Why don’t we wait for Shinji?”, I wondered. “Well, he wants to buy something which you are not allowed to see.” I suspected porn or condoms or porn. Probably a porn magazine! 

We drove home and ate the things which Hiro and Shinji bought. While Hiro was convincing me to do Nico Nico Douga with him, I convinced him to let me play with his Play Station 3. I never played with one before (hey, it was 2010!). What should I say? It was awesome! I kicked with Kratos some asses and the guys were impressed by my skills. Don’t mess with a gamer girl. Nevertheless I sucked at Call of Duty. I was more shocked about all the shooting than I was able to shoot the other people. “I’m going to revenge you”, Hiro said and went to war. I waved to him with a white tissue. Unfortunately, he wasn’t really better than me. So cute!

Furthermore I was kind of impressed that he kissed and cuddled me. His friend was in the same room but he didn’t care. I heard that Japanese are not showing any affection to their beloved ones when they are in public or with friends. But Hiro seemed to be different.

Shinji therefore was really curious. Everytime Hiro went to the toilet, he started asking me questions like “Do you love him”, “Do you want to marry him?”. I laughed out loudly. “Marrying him? We don’t even have a relationship!“ He looked at me like I was insane or an alien or an insane alien!

“I don’t believe it! You guys look like the perfect couple! You are matching really well and I’ve never seen Hiro so happy and relaxed”, he replied to me. Those words were really bittersweet.

Soon the night settled on the shelter and we got really tired because of waking up so early. 

Well, “we” didn’t include Shinji. He was sitting in front of Hiro’s computer and did Nico Nico Douga. I was lying on the bed and didn’t expect something bad when suddenly Hiro jumped on me with the words “You are mine, right?” Then he kissed me. I felt so happy. I had the feeling that we could work things out. Really! Unfortunately this happy feeling didn’t last long.

Mhm... seaweed...

After my slip-incident, we decided to drive to the lighthouse. You can imagine how often I checked my skirt during this day! Well, back to the lighthouse-story: It was hot! The sun was shining on us without mercy. As soon as we arrived at our destined place, I went to the vending machine in order to buy myself a Fanta Grape. “Let me buy it for you”, Hiro suggested. No way! I am an independent woman; I can pay it! Ha! I don’t need your money, I just need your love, your strong arms and… well maybe some small change because that stupid machine didn’t take my 10.000 Yen bill! So much for my independence…

In the meantime, Hiro was complaining about the sun which was shining on his neck. I decided to put my super cool Dragonball towel on him in order to protect him. Then we walked down to the ocean, climbed some stones (holding hands) in order to get to the sea. We sat on a big stone and looked at the clear water.  I wanted to jump in but I guess, the grandpa would have been shocked if I returned like a wet-T-shirt-queen. But it would have been so refreshing…

Suddenly I had an idea! I took the towel from his neck and soaked it with the water from the ocean. Then I swirled it in the air and put it on his neck again. “Whoa, this feels good”, was his reaction. Instead of thanking me properly, he took revenge on me! This time it was me who got water in her face… he laughed and I joined him.

The idiotic time started and he suddenly had the really awesome idea (irony! Oh sweet irony!) to try eating seaweed!! Yay! I have to admit that he acted really cool while putting it into his mouth. But his cool face turned into a “omg-I-guess-I-have-to-throw-up”-face as soon as he started chewing. Like I said, I like those idiotic actions. So I fell more and more in love with him.

Yummy... not...

We walked back to the stairs and went to the lighthouse. While climbing up the stairs, Hiro got slow and sighed “It’s too hot! Ahhh I can’t climb anymore.” Today’s youth! I mocked him: “Oh come on, grandpa! Move, move! Faster!” I pushed him gently upstairs. When he arrived at the top of the stairs, he turned around and said “Hey, I’m not a grandpa!” “Therefore you react really slowly”, I guess I found my Pokémon partner: Slowpoke the second! 

source: zerochan.net, This is how our couple photo would look like.

The bad thing was: The lighthouse also had stairs (=Hiro’s personal hell)! You can imagine how much I had to push him again. After that I probably looked like Hulk. Arms made out of iron! Thanks to pushing Japanese upstairs! But the view was amazing! Both of us were calm. We just enjoyed the ocean, the wind (which didn’t uplift my skirt!) and the whole impression. 

OCCEAAANN!!!!

On our way back, his phone started ringing. He picked it up while driving and talked to that person. Well, his driving skills were/are sometimes scary, especially when he puts eye drops into his eyes WHILE driving. Back to the call! Without recognizing he gave me the mobile phone: “Talk to him, please.” TO WHO?!?!? Santa Clause? The grandpa? The last unicorn? I started with a „Mooosshiii moooosh“ (Hello). The other voice replied something. It was a man. I returned the phone to Hiro. He laughed and stopped the call. “We are going to meet my friend Shinji. He’s really nice and he didn’t believe me that you really came. Actually, he still can’t believe because you sounded like a Japanese” (Well, this was easy because I just said two words!). And let me say: ARGH, we were about to meet another person! NOO! Plus: It is a guy! DOUBLE NO!!!

Unfortunately we arrived really fast at his place, so I had no time to make up any plans to escape. Something like “Oh, I forgot! I have to go to the dentist!” or “Oh, I have the urge to eat you up, right now!!! Put off your clothes, big mouse” or “I think I’m about to give birth to a child RIGHT NOW!”

Too late, Shinji was already getting in the car. Luckily, he was not a total awesome looking man. He seemed more like a teddy bear, a tall, chubby teddy bear - I immediately liked him. I turned around in order to greet him.

I: “Hey! Nice to meet you!”

Shinji to Hiro: “Whoa! She speaks Japanese.”

I: “Hey ;_; You can talk to me directly!”

Hiro: “He never met a foreigner, so he’s shy I guess.”

I: “But I’m nice ;__;”

Shinji: “Haha, yes! And beautiful! Nice to meet you“ (Yeah, win my heart. Give me compliments. Girls like compliments!)

First he had problems to pronounce my name. That’s why I told him my nickname (he was really relieved about this easy nickname).  We stopped at a supermarket. Minutes later Hiro let my heart skip a beat. Why? Oh my god?! What has he done? Oh no, cliffhanger!

Hey, grandpa!

In the middle of the night, I felt the urge to go to a toilet. But the toilet was in the main house. I didn’t want to go alone to the house because I could meet his family members there. I looked at Hiro. He looked like an angel and slept peacefully. I didn’t dare to wake him up. 

Before my bladder was about to burst, I decided that I should try alone. I went outside. Alf was just about to chase a cat (really Alf-like!). I went slowly to the entrance door. Opened it and said “I’m sorry that I disturb you. Good evening.” A man was lying on the floor but didn’t recognize me. I sneaked to the toilet and was really happy to see Hello Kitty. Actually I was never happier to see her! 

After I returned to Hiro, I tried to sleep. Though I could sleep better than during our first night, I couldn’t really fall asleep so fast, because he started to talk! Yes, he talked in the middle of his sleep! I wanted to remember it but I was too tired. But I know that he called my name. Wow. He had a dream about me. I hope a really dirty one.  With mud and stuff. Then, suddenly he took my hand again. It felt so comfortable that I also could fall asleep. Well, it just felt comfortable until his legs crashed down on my legs. He woke up from this “experience” too.  It was time to get up then. At 5 a.m….

While he took a bath, I checked my facebook and wrote with my friend Kate. Then somebody entered the room. He was good-looking and wore a towel on his head. It was: towel-man! The avenger of all dirty bathrooms! Actually I couldn’t decide if I should laugh or drool. I preferred drooling then. “You can take a bath too!”, he told me and guided me to the main house. I thought I could do it. I’ve seen it in Tv shows and anime already. Yes, taking a bath in Japan is more difficult but I can do it! Yes!

Then I was all alone in the huge bathroom. “First I have to wash myself in the shower while sitting on a stool.” The stool was there, the soap was there but every time I turned on the water, it was hot. Really, really hot. I decided to screw Japanese tradition (I didn’t like the fact to cook myself) and went into the bathtub. At least it wasn’t so hot. I tried to relax. It was really comfortable. My body swam in the water like the pubic hair right in front of me. Well, you can say that this disturbed my relaxing time. I sat down, watched it. “Let’s hope it’s Hiros! Let’s hope it’s Hiros!”, I prayed to myself and decided to end my bath. Hiro was surprised that I was so fast. Well, I didn’t tell him from my encounter with the hair…

source: Hazuki Kanae's "Ai no Koe", edited by me

It was around 6 a.m. when we decided to eat breakfast. Hiro decided on a Gyudon-restaurant. Yes, beef at 6 a.m., really nice. Not. I couldn’t really eat anything because I always need sweet stuff in the morning hours. Hiro therefore ate two big meals. How can he eat so much? And why is he still so slim? Japanese… 

He shared his Natto with me. Natto are fermented beans. Doesn’t sound nice? Well, it tasted like feet. When I told him this fact, he started laughing. 

Thereafter we returned to his shelter. He decided to tell his Nico Nico friends that I said “Natto tastes like feet” and I decided to meet Hello Kitty again. At this moment I couldn’t know that something terrible was about to happen. After leaving the toilet, I recognized that I still had the toilet slippers on. Oops! I ran back and put them off. When I closed the main house’s door, I saw the grandfather of Hiro. He looked at me; I greeted him and went back to Hiro’s room. Before opening the door, I felt a small breeze on my ass. That felt strange. I touched my ass and recognized that my skirt WASN’T THERE where it was supposed to be!!! It stuck in my slip! And there was a pretty big chance that his grandfather had seen it. Now I can say that half of his family had seen my slip. Embarrassing. 

source: Hazuki Kanae's "Ai no Koe", edited by me

Meeting his friends

He drove me straight to the ocean. The sound of the  waves echoed in our ears while we were slowly going to the water. Hiro stopped one meter in front of the Pacific. But this wasn’t enough for me. I put off my shoes and walked straight into the water. First Hiro thought I was joking but then he also put off his shoes and followed me.

The water was lukewarm. I smiled at Hiro, he smiled back, I bowed down and splashed water all over his trousers. He was surprised by this attack, but laughed. Unfortunately I used too much water on him. Because of this his pants looked like he peed himself, or like he was REALLY happy to see me, if you know what I mean…

The beach!!!

Well, this whole “let’s-put-off-our-shoes-and-walk-into-the-pacific”-plan wasn’t such a waterproof plan actually. In order to return to the car, we had to cross the hot sand. I’m not talking about lukewarm-holiday-sand. I’m talking about sand delivered from hell! So hot! We jumped back like little rabbits and screamed “Hot, hot, hot”. I hope no one took a photo of us. 

We returned to the car barefooted. Hiro even wanted to drive like this. Luckily we found a shower-station after 10 m of driving (Nature said “thank you” for this waste of gasoline). The plan was to remove all the sand from our feet. Unfortunately the wind was a little bit bitchy. When we turned on the shower, the wind blew so strong that we got wet. Well, at least the sand was removed. And my make-up. I guess this is what you call “revenge of the nature”. 

So two wet people returned to the car. I was still better off than Hiro because his trousers were really soaked. I felt a little bit sorry. Just a little bit. Okay, to be honest, I laughed my ass off. One could think that he would have been mad at me, but he wasn’t. In fact he drove to Mc Donald’s and wanted to buy Melon Soda for me. I love Melon Soda! I would sell some of my cousins for a lifelong supply of Melon Soda. I’m serious.  Well, to cut a long story short: Mc Donald’s doesn’t have Melon Soda. Hiro couldn’t believe it and expressed his disbelief to the staff. Poor staff.

In order to not fail the mission of getting me a Melon Soda, Hiro stopped at a family restaurant and ordered me a XL glass of Melon Soda and an crushed ice ( I wasn’t hungry because I still couldn’t believe I was with him.  I guess I could lose a lot of weight when I’m with him…). He finished his (way bigger) meal faster than me and we shared my crushed ice like a lovely couple. 

Afterwards, he stopped at a conbini. One of his friends, better to say: a really hot friend of his was working there. He pointed at me and asked Hiro if I was his date. Hiro smiled and nodded his head. “So I’m your date?”, I smirked as we left the store.  “Of course”, was his answer.

Finally we arrived with lot of bottles from the conbini at his house. Like I said, he lived with his parents which had, I guess, two houses. One of the houses was big but the inside was pretty…. chaotic… with a pink Hello Kitty carpet in front of the toilet. Can you believe it? I can’t imagine a man who is using this toilet! I guess no matter how manly you are, when you enter the toilet, you gonna lose all your manhood. Hello Kitty: Turning men into pussies since 1976.

Well, back to the houses. I guess the grandpa lived in the chaotic house. Hiro lived in the shelter(?). I don’t know what it was but it was just a small… shelter… without toilet (which later caused some trouble to me).

As soon as I left the car, a dog jumped on me and sniffed at my lap. I tried to cuddle the dog and pressed him away from my lap. Seriously, dogs, why do you always do this?! “His name is Alf”, Hiro seemed happy that I was on good terms with his dog (or he just thought “Hoho! Later I’m going to that place where Alf took a sniff!). Don’t expect that I make fun of the dog name. It’s a really cool name and I loved the Tv show when I was a child. I wonder if the dog also likes to eat cats. 

I’ve entered his room/shelter. Actually he cleaned it for me, so it just looked 60% chaotic! Yay! He started his computer and told me that he wants to introduce me to his friends now. I looked around. I didn’t see anyone and there wasn’t space for people to hide. He started the website Nico Nico Douga. It’s a Japanese video-hosting-site where you can stream your own live videos. Other people can see you and comment in real-time on your videos. A creepy high-pitched voice is reading out the comments aloud. So his friends were… just spectators. Somehow I pitied him a bit. I guess I already felt at this time that he seemed to be like a lonesome wolf. 

An example of Nico Nico Douga. Though it's not a webcam stream, you can see two comments flying over the screen.

The video-chat was actually really nice. I didn’t like the fact that unknown people could watch me and tell me “Kiss him” (I didn’t… ), but it was really interesting. They told us that we look like a couple and we answered that we aren’t one. We didn’t know what we were in fact. It wasn’t just the physical part, it was more. I would call it “romance”. Hiro also added that our children would look cute. Yes, they would. Everyone who sees them would get a sugar shock or would try to kidnap them because they would be so adorable. 

Around 7 p.m. we decided to sleep because we started yawning every second. The heat was just too much for us (the heat from outside, not the body heat, you perverts!).

Don't arrest me!

We arrived around lunchtime at the airport. Ah, airport, home of all security and the place where they check your passport. Wait- passport? Damn! My passport was still in my suitcase at John’s house! But Japanese people are really kind and that’s why I could pass with my ID-card. I brought my friend to the gate and said goodbye to her, wrote Hiro that he can come and waited for him. 

I stood there and waited with nothing bad or terroristic in my mind. Unfortunately an airport security man thought that I might be some dangerous person. He asked me politely to show him my passport. D.A.M.N.²! I saw myself already as a sex toy in prison. I needed a plan. Okay, what do we have? We don’t have a passport; we have a male airport security staff. Oh, male! Haha, I just charm him! 

I told him in a cute way that I was waiting for a friend from Chiba who is going to pick me up from here and that I’m not flying to somewhere. The airport man answered me “Oh! I’m also from Chiba!” Haha, too easy! I smiled and continued in a cute, happy way: “Oh really?! I like Chiba soooo much! The landscape and the capital city are so beautiful! It’s my favorite place in Japan!” (I’ve never been there before…)

Then I added with a soft voice: “Because I just wanted to meet with my friend, I totally forgot my passport but I have my ID-card with me! I hope this is also okay?” (Imagine now large puppy eyes).

He smiled at me, hardly looked at the ID-card which I’ve showed him and said “Yes.” After this I went back to the waiting area. I didn’t want to meet another security staff again. I know, I was lucky but I didn’t want to push my luck.

After some minutes, Hiro called me. He was there! “I’m at the south wing F 4”, I told him and waited for 10 minutes. Then he called again “Well I’m at F6 now because you weren’t at F 4”. Well, I looked around: There was no one. There wasn’t even a F6! “Are you sure that you are at the south wing?”, I wanted to make sure. Of course he wasn’t! Men…

In total I’ve waited 10 more minutes for him to arrive because he told me not to move anymore. 10 minutes! In front of an exit! All the security staff members could see me! Risky, risky, baby! But I survived and suddenly, I saw someone coming towards me. He was taller than I had remembered (in my memories he was as tall as my knee … yes, strange memories).

I still remember that he wore camouflage pants, a black T-Shirt and those ugly men-sandals.  You know the ones which have a ring around your toe? Anyone? But he looked so normal. It was so great to see him as normal person and not as over-styled host.  

I don't know why but somehow I want to hit the designer of those sandals. Really. With a hard and heavy object.

He took, gentleman-like, my luggage and we went to his car. I’ve never been in a Japanese car.  The driver’s seat is on the right side of the car and not the left side (home country style). And now imagine what I’d done. Exactly. I headed straight for the driver’s seat. Hiro was irritated and I was irritated because he was irritated. Then I saw the reason of his irritation and I had to laugh. After a short explanation, he laughed too. Well, the same thing happened three more times. I confused him so much that he mistook the driver’s seat with the passenger seat too. Now I can strike “to confuse a Japanese” from my bucket list.

While we were driving to the prefecture of Chiba, we talked about various stuff. It was more or less cultural stuff, until he started to ask private questions. Instead of starting with an easy question, like “Do you also think that Dragon ball is cool?”, he headed right for bull’s-eye.

Hiro: “Is there someone you like?”

I: “Huh?”

Hiro: “Well a person you like or who you love?”

I: “Ehm, yes.” (You!!! You idiot! Otherwise it would be strange to be with you right now…)

Hiro: “Someone from university?”

I: “No.” (irony on: Yes, I like someone from university but I have to meet you before … because this is the only logical way to make a university guy love me … /irony off)

Hiro: “Someone from Japan?”  (as if you don’t know!)

I: “Yes.”

Hiro: “Is it me?”

After this I couldn’t answer anymore because all the blood within my body rushed into my face. I think the answer was obvious then. 

Driving around. Actually, I didn't even know to where we were going and.... I don't even know now where I've been.
Haha. Ha.

Oh, this voice

In the summer of 2010, I decided to fly with a fellow student of mine. She was going to stay with me until I was about to meet Hiro. After meeting Hiro, I was supposed to live together with my housemate (who really needs a name! Let’s call him John. Wayne. Lennon. Ah, only John*.). Yes, my housemate was so kind to let me live at his small room for free! I’m such a lucky girl!

And I got even luckier! When I turned on the mobile phone, I got a mail from Hiro! Then I became the luckiest girl on earth when I bought a one-month-mail-flat-rate.  This is something which every girl dreams of. Who needs shoes? Who needs thousands of bags when you can write millions of mails! (In fact, I always write about 1.000 mails per month in Japan.)

You can imagine that the next days were full of mailing. Unfortunately not so much with Hiro because he was busy with this headhunter job. Nevertheless, he wrote me sometimes things like “I wanna meet you quickly”, “I wanna eat you too” – ehm, now it sounds like I started the dirty talk. Now, actually we always talked about the current economic crises and the freedom of all unicorns and… cookies. Yes. Exactly.

Soon it was the 20^th and I’ve send him a “Happy Birthday”-mail which he liked very much. One day later, it was one day before we finally were meeting; I packed my stuff and brought it to John. I wasn’t going to bring my whole heavy suitcase to Hiro because it would look like “Hello, I’m going to move in. Nice to meet you, new roommate!”

Birthday-Mail-Reply-thing: Thank you (heartx4) Oh, it was the Tokyo Tower? (I had sent him a photo of the tower) Feeling happy about it. Thank you very much

On my way back to my fellow student, Hiro asked me to give him my phone number. Hell, no! I wanted to know his first and that’s why he sent it to me. Good boy. After this I sent him mine. It would be really convenience tomorrow, I thought. Yes, tomorrow, when we’re going to meet at the airport (I wanted to bring my fellow student to the airport in order to make sure she comes home safely.)

Suddenly my phone rang. “What? Why is he calling now?” I blushed immediately, went to the other corner of the room and picked up the phone.

I: “Moshi, moshi?” (Hello?)

Hiro: (in a f*cking deep and sexy voice! Gosh! I’m so happy my panty didn’t fly away and hit my fellow students head. Would have been an awkward situation) “Moshi, mooosh, (my name)!”

I: “Who’s there?“ (Well, okay. That was a stupid reaction. But I wanted to sound busy. I think.)

He: “It’s Hiro! Hiroooo!”

I: “Ahh, Hiro.”

He: “You should sound happier when I’m calling (^_^)"

 

I was kind of really, really nervous. So he kept on asking me questions, like “How are you?”, “Have you been to the Comiket?”, “Is the mobile phone yours?” and “When are we going to meet tomorrow?”

And of course: “My friends want to meet you.” AAAHHHHHHHHRRGHGHHSS!! As if a dorky, good-looking boy with a sexy voice isn’t enough! Here he comes and tells me about his friends again. 

--------------- 

* By the way, I've changed all of the names of course. It's a true story but I don't want to hurt the privacy of my friends. That's why you can't find their real names here. 

Last preparations

I felt really uncomfortable when I thought of meeting strangers. Furthermore I just had this dinosaur-feeling. Yes, you heard right: dinosaur-feeling. It’s like you feel different from the others and all the people come to see the differences of yours. Well, it’s not a real name of a sickness (yes, you should stop googling now, and it's not like feeling old and died out). But I think it’s a good way to express this feeling. I told him that it just made me feel like he wants to show me around “Hey look! This is a REAL foreigner! Here!!! Real! Touch it! It even can make noises! Say ‚woof‘!“.

He replied me: “I don’t want to meet you because you are a foreigner. (;･д･) I want to meet you because you are cute. Tell me your full name please!” I didn’t tell him my full name. But I decided to really go and visit him. Without his friends. Just the two of us.

Plus: I would meet him right after his birthday. So should I buy something for him? I asked my friend Liz. She was/is a huge Hiro-supporter. I still think that one day she will print out big banners with his face or wave around with those cute tiny flags, screaming “Go Hiro! Go Hiro! Yeah, yeah! Take her! Now!!! On the table!“ Or something like this. 

I: "I don’t know if I should buy him a present for his birthday. I wanted to buy him a T-Shirt from his favorite game. But maybe he wouldn’t be happy that I give him something."

 Liz: "Let me sum it up: He slept with you, he really wants you to come to Japan and meet you again, he sends mails and he wants to introduce you to his friends. In addition he wants to show you his city and is happy like a child on Christmas that you’re coming to meet him. Yes, you are right. He wouldn’t be happy. You are really right."

After this talk, I decided to buy him this T-Shirt. I’ve ordered it 1 ½ weeks before flying to Japan. 4 days before leaving, the status of the T-Shirt still said “in progress”. Damn it! I called the company and cancelled this damn T-Shirt because they didn’t even know when they can deliver it! I was so sad! It was the perfect present! PERFECT! And now I had nothing! Just some beer cans (yes, Japanese and the beer – a story in many chapters). So I browsed through Amazon and spent a lot of money in order to buy the same shirt via overnight express. And thank you, dear mailman! You were so fast! 1 day before leaving, I got his present! 

Another friend of mine gave me her Japanese mobile phone (thank you so much for this, I also received it one or two days before leaving). I had a mobile phone for Japan, I had 5 cans of beer, a T-Shirt and a whole package of “feeling so nervous aaaahh”. It was time to go. 

Big Mouse

So, the shoulder-touching host was back in my life. Pardon me, Ex-Host. Yes, you heard it right. He had quit his job and moved back to his parents (hey, that’s better than being a host! No judging). Furthermore he applied for a totally normal job as headhunter for business people. Okay, it’s semi-normal but well, better than being a host.

He talked about his hometown and wanted to guide me around his place. Mr. Ex-Host even wanted to eat fish with me because it is really popular in this area. Everything sounded like a dream to me but there was something I really needed to know before I totally fell into this wonderland. It wasn’t something like “Do you love me? Wanna marry me? Wanna make children who will be probably taller than you?” (Memo to myself: Should.stop.doing.height.jokes)

It wasn’t even about the incident or about how he gets his hair so spiky. The thing I wanted to know the most was: “What’s your real name”.  Just minutes after sending this mail, he also answered directly: “Matsumoto Hiro”. 

Hiro. I finally knew his real name.  I can be your Hiro, baby! I can kiss away the pain! I will …  Oh wait – didn’t he say before that he wants to meet me again and drive me around?! And he wanted to show me a lighthouse! How romantic! Oh, ohh!! *embarrassing love mode on*

I immediately told it to my university mate Kate who stated the obvious: “He’s going to sleep with you. Everywhere. On the bed, on the washing machine. Maybe you are going to see the lighthouse from the washing machine while you are doing it with him.” Well, this didn’t sound so bad actually. Of course I wanted to be loved but saying “No” wouldn’t have helped and Mr. Libido was already packing the suitcase for the summer holidays. 

But until then there was still plenty of time. Unfortunately. Nevertheless we mailed a lot and I laughed so much about his mails. 

I told him that I’m going to stay at my housemate’s room this year. It was the guy who lived next door to Anna and me in 2009. During our stay, I developed a brother and sister like relationship with him. But a mail from Hiro with a tiny bit of jealousy flew to me “Is he a man?”. Yes, he is a man! „Ah, it’s a man. Isn’t this dangerous?“, he answered. Oh baby, you know how to make a girl blush! I was happy that he was kinda worried about me, even it was just politeness. So I wrote “Well, actually you seemed more dangerous last year than him. But don’t worry, he’s like a bro to me.” It made him laugh. 

Days flew past, meanwhile the Soccer World Cup started and sometimes we wrote about it. During one of this conversation, I had to laugh so much that he got a nickname afterwards.

I: “Whoa! Honda Keisuke from the Japanese Team is so cool!”

He: “Honda plays very well but he is a (and the capslock words were written in English) BIG MOUSE”

I: *receiving this mail* O,O Big Mouse? Must be his nickname. Let’s ask Google. Nothing. Big Mouse? What kind of nickname is this?! Strange. After some minutes I spoke these two words to myself: „Big… Mouse…. Wait! BIG MOUTH!!!!” I laughed so much. I shared this with my friends because it was so unbelievable funny! He actually wanted to tell me “Honda has a big mouth”. I corrected him and added “But I like you more than him.”

He: “Thank you for the correction. Hehehe. You like me more than him? Really? (//д//) Thank you ♪ I wanna meet you so badly!“

Sometimes I still call him “big mouse” or “nezumi-kun” (Mr. Mouse, why does the Japanese version sounds so cute and the English translation so... pervert?) when we chat. Then we’re laughing and he says “natsukashii” which means something like “a lovely memory”. 

Another time we talked about our favorite type. Of course he told me that I am his favorite type (once host, always host?). And he wanted to know my favorite type of men. Well, actually my type of men was always: taller than me, not a host, not even an ex-host, not compulsory Japanese, university student… well, everyone has standards, right? And I was young, so I thought this is my type. Now I know that my type is: a lovely dork. Someone who tries to act really cool and stuff, but in the end he fails. That’s what I love. 

Okay, back to Hiro. What should I answer? “You are not sooooo much my type”, wouldn’t bring me close to him, so I told him that he’s my type. Immediately I got a “I like you” message back. DAISUKI! He likes me! Somehow! Doesn’t matter in which way but he doesn’t hate me completely! Yay!

Such messages make a girl feel happy, guys.

And it started to get better: He invited me to his birthday and wanted to introduce me to his friends. More yays! Oh, but friends? I didn’t want to meet his friends! I hardly speak Japanese! I would be helpless! And if they all look good I … I would die because of over-sexual arousal?! Was this even possible?!  Maybe I was also just a puppet to show to others?!