I guess I'd been going out with my boyfriend Ryosuke for a couple of years by this point. I was still studying at Oceanview U. in California, but Ryosuke had graduated, and was now working full time in the sushi bar in town. He worked evenings quite a bit, but one night he had off, he took me to this pub called Hernando's. There is a big neon palm tree sign...
By Emi Tsuruta I think this was in the summer after my sophomore year. I went home to Japan, and got to do something I'd never tried before: participate in a matsuri, a Shinto festival. Of course I'd been to festivals before, but this was the first time I ever got to join in. It was one of my boyfriend Ryosuke's ideas. We almost got in trouble, but anyway,...
After my boyfriend Ryosuke and I had been going out for a while, he started inviting me over to his host family's house in Oceanview, California. I'd met his family a few times, but at first, I found it a bit nerve-wracking visiting them. They live in a kind of rich part of town, so I felt intimidated, as if I had to be on my best behavior. The Francis' hous...
Last fall, Oceanview University's Japanese Student Union organized a barbecue on this grassy field on campus near the cliffs. I think Ayumi was probably the one who first suggested it. She's a cute girl, bright and cheerful. I knew her a little bit from playing drums together at Orientation. She kind of has her own circle of friends, but I invited my boyfrie...
At the end of my sophomore year, two of our friends, Futoshi and Kenta, left Oceanview, and moved to Los Angeles. After they left, things got a lot quieter. I guess they were really more my then-boyfriend Ryosuke's friends than mine, but all the same, I was sad to see them go. I guess part of it was that Futoshi had been sweet to my best friend, Satomi, so s...
When I moved to California to go to college, I left behind a boyfriend of sorts in Japan. His name was Tomoyuki. He had spiky black hair and sharp features, but I found him attractive at the time anyway. We were both busy preparing for entrance exams, so we'd mostly just study together, but one day he asked me to be his girlfriend, and I said yes. We didn't...
When my sister Norika came to visit me in Oceanview, I found out that she doesn't like to wear nighties to bed. She didn't bring any with her, and even though I live with an American family, she didn't seem keen on putting one on. I had a real time of it trying to keep her from flashing the host son, Brandon, and the mother's boyfriend, Hank. Up until then,...
My host mom, Loretta, has been dating this guy, Hank, for the last little while. I first met Hank a couple of years ago. Loretta's kids and I all kind of knew she was seeing someone, and then one day, he turned up at the house. I was a bit surprised because he was so handsome. I mean not that Loretta isn't good-looking or anything, but I've always pictured h...
I guess the first time I ever saw or heard about 'paddy whacks' was at Brandon's birthday party a year or two ago. Brandon is the son in the host family I'm staying with here in Oceanview, California. He was maybe 19 years old, brown hair, freckles, around the same age as me, shy around other people, but for some reason, more forward with me. I don't know wh...
I guess this started when my friend Asuna invited Satomi and me to come sleep over at her condo. Asuna is a sparky lass, a year younger than us, smart enough, but she has this sort of wide-eyed innocence about her. She looks very Japanese, sleek creamy skin, narrow eyes with mysterious wisps of hair almost like antennae floating at her temples. Satomi is mor...