Volunteering road trip with my new mate Iwao-san

Last Friday I got asked to fill in as a driver's assistant for the pick up of food donations from Costco for Second Harvest Japan. I was a bit concerned about being able to communicate with the driver as it is usually older guys who are the volunteer drivers and I figured they wouldn't have much English and my Japanese is very basic. I spent my train ride to Akihabara practising my best Japanese for 'I'm sorry, I don't understand', 'slower please' 'can you please repeat one more time'.....

I should have known better! The driver introduced himself and immediately apologised that he didn't know much English. He then talked to me for the next 3 hours in  nearly perfect English and even taught me a few Japanese words along the way. (osampo = to walk or stroll, eiga = movies, seiza = sitting on the floor Japanese style).

I keep discovering that many Japanese people speak English really well but they are too shy to speak it in front of a group. However, when you are talking one on one they are much more confident and are happy to talk with you.

Iwao-san told me all about his life growing up as the youngest of 3 brothers and 2 sisters and how he is now a carer for his elderly father. He was a chef until his wife died a few years ago and he decided to retire. He also helps with the cooking of the meals that Second Harvest supply to the homeless in Ueno Park on the weekend. He says they usually serve up around 400 hot meals every Saturday.

I really enjoyed hanging out with a local and while I was embarrassed about my lack of ability to speak much Japanese, Iwao-san was very enthusiastic about telling me all about his favourite places to ski and drink sake in Japan. He is also very keen  on cars and motorbikes and we spotted some great cars while we were stuck in traffic on the motorway. We saw a car yard full of American muscle cars, including a sweet Pontiac GTO and a '67 Mustang Fastback. A couple of Porsches flew by us too.

Iwao-san also found a radio station that had an American DJ and two Japanese guys translating in between his commentary. It was pretty cool that we could both listen and understand all the jokes. Iwao-san thought it was pretty hilarious that the DJ announced it was 'Hug an Australian Day' on April 26th. I don't think he was up for a hug seeing as we had just met but we posed for photos for each other. He went for a thumbs up for my photo and I went for the peace sign for his. Take that cultural stereotyping!

Nom nom nom...trays of croissants, doughnuts, muffins. And boxes and boxes of vegetables. And many, many loaves of bread. Again, I had to remind myself not to sample the sweet, sweet donations. I may have been drooling Homer Simpson style. Just a bit.

PS: I found out during my volunteering session today, that Iwao-san had told everyone that I play rugby! I had a few people asking my questions about women's rugby before I realised there had been a mix up. I'm guessing when he asked me about sports and I said I like watching rugby he thought I was saying I like playing rugby. Whoops!