2nd lunch date this week...

Today Atsushi and I went back to the cafe down the street from city hall for lunch. He sent me a message last night saying he was sorry for not saying anything when he got off the elevator but that he couldn't in front of the other employees.

We had planned to meet in front of the Lawson's again but I got down there faster than last time and he was standing on the corner right by city hall. He saw me coming, but the light changed and there were too many people around for him to wait for me without being obvious so he started walking off slowly. I slowly sped up to catch up...though I was laughing the whole way. I swear... I dunno what has happened to me. If we were in America I would be so annoyed with this whole thing, but here I kind of understand it.

I really think it is more of a small town thing than a Japan thing. Plus add in the fact that I am a foreigner and we would never get any peace if everyone knew.

I told him the story about Nakagawa-san after we got off the elevator and he laughed. He said that we probably won't be successful much longer, but it's better to try. Japanese people used to rely a lot on arranged matches and some of the older generations are still very stuck on that and it still plays a large role in Japanese society. Most of the time they meet the people they date through set date parties...

Anyway, today went really well. I ordered a smaller meal today rather than try to stuff myself full of omuraisu while talking to him. It seemed a lot more comfortable today. We are getting used to each other and there is never really any difficulty communicating. He has been watching my Friends DVD and found the English subtitles which he said is really helping him understand it.

We took the front entrance to city hall today. There was a very visible change in him as we approached the building. The closer we got the quieter he got. So I made fun of him for a bit and then played along. He took the stairs and I took the elevator and we pretended like we just happened to be walking near each other.

Later that night at calligraphy sensei had us make little hand held paper fans. We drew small characters on squares of paper and then put them on our fans. I drew the character for flower...mostly because sensei told me to. Though in Japanese my first name is the name of a flower, a daisy I believe, and my middle name is also a flower, Rose. So...I am flower flower man.