Anchin Restaurant

I had the experience of working and serving the dishes at one Japanese restaurant for several days during my summer trip to Japan in 2015. But there is much more to be told. How I got there, what was it like to be there, what were my colleagues like and many other questions you might have are going to be answered here.

The name of the restaurant is Anchin, named after the character from the legend of Anchin & Kiyohime which story took place in the nearby temple of Doujouji located in Hidaka and town of Gobo in the Wakayama Prefecture, southern part of Osaka Kansai region with the administrative center in the city of Osaka, part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area (Osaka-Kyoto-Kobe) and one of the largest in the world. Gobo though was a relatively smaller town with the population of around 25. 000 citizens and my home for more than two weeks of my stay in Japan where I had the first contact with the Japanese society, made first friends and contacts, became part of the local squad and which became my second home abroad not just a material one but because of the bonds and nice memories with the locals who did everything to make my stay there unforgetable.

First evening in Japan and the big welcome dinner at Anchin

I was not supposed to be here at this place at all. And thinking of right now after spending such a nice time here I guess it would be pretty hard and strange for me to accept that some things would have been totally different. I would have for sure visited the restaurant at one point during my stay in Japan or at least got a glimpse of it such as the cookies being produced there... but I would have never gotten the chance to meet the people who were working there, the area and the chance to be part of the team. Here is what happened.

The day of the flight on 1st July I got an urgent email in the morning, several hours before going to the airport, in which it was written by the local Lions Club Gobo that due to unfortunate and unexpected problems that occurred in the family that was supposed to take care of me I was going to be given temporary a new host family. The information included that they were a bit older, around 60, they were cooks and owned a restaurant. They had their family living close by and who often visits them. They spoke Japanese and English as much as I was able to speak in Japanese upon arriving there. And lastly – they had a cat. We became good friends, Mitsa and I. I was worried just a little bit as I did not know how it was going to be with the family who spoke no English, I had no prior experience to this, and if we were going to manage to overcome the language barrier. It turned out to be one of the best things that happened to me that summer, the thing that the plans changed my destination and allowed me to meet much more people and experience something totally different I could not imagine earlier.

On the 2nd of July my plane landed at Osaka International Airport (KIX) about 10 a. m. from the local time at Doha, Qatar. In Croatia it was probably 8 a. m. However, after my host family Ishikura picked me up at the airport and came home (cca an hour or more) the sky quickly turned dark and the night replaced the day. It was kind of a shock for me since I left Qatar around 1. 30 a. m. during the night and arrived to Japan after a 9 hours long flight again at the evening if not night. As soon as we came to the parking lot next to the house and the restaurant the sky turned dark and it was raining.

It was in those moments when I was at the same time both a little bit tired (actually needed to stretch after sitting for so many hours) and super excited as my 28 days long life in Japan was about to begin. I did not know what to expect, how I was going to survive without knowing any Japanese (except for 3-4 phrases) and how was I going to be involved and adjust to the local society. On our way in the car there were 3 more persons with me who waited for me at the airport. These are Mr Ishikura, the head of Ishikura family I was going to stay with and the head local restaurant business, and two other members of LC Gobo who helped in the organisation of my arrival. One of them, Mamiko-san, also knew English pretty good so she helped me from the airport till reaching the home of Ishikura family. She was sitting next to me on the back seat and helped translating between the other two in the car. She saved me also many times later during several welcome parties when I had no idea what was going on and what was I supposed to do, as well as going to the bank and explaining the bank stuff my problem with not being able to withdraw some cash. We left her at her home on our way to the restaurant. There was now 3 of us.

After leaving the car with my heavy luggage I met mom Mieko Ishikura who showed me my room and the house. I sat down in the living room and met the other members of the Ishikura family. There came son of Mr Ishikura and his wife and children. Since they spoke very little English and I the same amount of Japanese we had to use the dictionaries and the hands a little bit. I was sitting there and thinking how much fun and challenges I was going to have in the next days until I get used to everything. After 20 minutes all of us were invited to go to some restaurant, as I understood them. Back then I still had no idea where that restaurant was precisely (and the name Anchin was written in Japanese only, I could not read it at all on my first day), it was right next to the house. Literally it is about 1-3 meters away.

Next to one of the entrances (the southern one) is a vending machine selling you drinks. These machines are much bigger than those I am used to in Europe. We entered the interior and my first Japanese kitchen experience was about to begin. We sat at the table and when my eyes caught the clock on the wall it was already 7 p. m.! Which meant my family probably had late breakfast right now at 10 a. m. in Croatia. It is 9 hours difference, more than 1/3 of the Earth, that was dividing us. And for them I was living 9 hours ahead in the future. We were sitting at the tables of the first floor as later I discovered there were 2 big halls and more rooms on the second floor the other day.

The interior of the restaurant was pretty cosy and comfortable. At least on the first floor it seemed to be much more open to all kinds of guest than you would get a feeling once you climbed up the stairs. There were tables and seats for about one and a half bus of visitors. The tables had a yellow cover. To my left was the cashier where one could order their meal and check what was offered to eat and drink. You could see something written above it on the wall and there was a bell and a dragon around it breathing fire. Since i was totally new I did not know what was the thing with the illustration and what it had to do with the restaurant. After visiting the nearby temple of Doujouji everything changed. Behind the cashier there was a door leading you into the kitchen. In front of me was another cashier, maybe the main one, surrounded with may artefacts and newspapers. Speaking of artefacts, many were again in this shape of the mysterious bell with a dragon. I was curious about the newspapers and wanted to read them (aka not understand anything but just admire the Japanese writing system and way of putting this into the columns). This cashier was under the stairs leading you to the upper floor. And at this place was the eastern entrance with the automatic doors as well as the passage further into the shop and the fridge. Once I went there during the day I saw the Football World cup with the Croatian flag so was able to show my co-workers there the form of it.

And the last – what was waiting for us on the table itself? Food? I was welcomed with the full table of different Japanese dishes. Some of them (such as sushi) I was able to recognise but the vast majority of the rest was pretty unknown to me and I could not guess the name to be honest. Mr Ishikura sat in front of me and was telling me the names of everything before me eyes. I still remember perfectly the moment he pointed out what was maguro, ebi, tai, ika, wasabi, soba, suika... I remembered the names and used the names only in Japanese but did not know all of them in English or even Croatian. When I was passing by some Japanese restaurants later on back in Zagreb I could not recognise the name in Croatian and link it with the image but could name it in Japanese after seeing the photos of the food. I was already a bit satisfied since I had lunch in the air plane and ate a sandwich but tried to eat as much as possible this evening and we managed to empty almost whole table. I was then full.

I tried eating sushi which is rice with some other ingredients nice packed so that you can eat one per time. One of my favourite tastes there that had a totally new taste in my mouth was mixing maguro (tuna fish) with wasabi which would give it a pretty strong taste. I learned there one does not eat wasabi alone but rather mixed it with other sauce and puts the ingredients such as fish in it but just a little bit! Speaking of what we call "pasta" and for them is "soba" I automatically started eating it by rolling the pasta around my fork. Then Mr Ishikura started correcting me "no no no, iie iie, no italian stayru, Japanese... " and showed me how they did it. Since then I automatically even today eat pasta by just taking it up in the air instead of rolling around. The chopsticks were also kind of a problem to get used to in the beginning but I managed to learn the proper use (though abandoned it later). After half an hour of enjoying the food (and for some things it was my first time), especially eating rice with the chopsticks and their sauce, we tried to communicate a bit but it was still very much difficult. What I was learning in the air plane, some phrases, I tried to use it when the son of Mr Ishikura was about to leave so I tried with "Mata ne! " and it proved to be the right choice. I helped clean the table and entered into the kitchen for the first time. I still did not know that I was going to spend several days helping there. Read further please.

Welcome Party of the Lions Club Gobo

After the dinner I was told about some Welcome Party on my second day in Japan. I had no clue what that really meant (and the word "party" will be probably associated with something wilder). Anchin was also the only place where one could have the access to the wi-fi so I contacted my family and friends from there and shocked those who had not known I was going to Japan by posting photos of the dinner there. For many of them it was simply "What the duck?! I saw you two days ago in the center of Zagreb?! What are you doing in Japan?! " and some told after more photos the other day that they had believed I just did check-in randomly and downloaded the images from the internet to mock people. Anyway, the other morning after not sleeping much because of the jet-lag problems (my brain was totally confused as well as my bio-rhythm) I had breakfast around 9 a. m., went for a walk around the house and then found Ishikura-san watching TV in the living room, told him I was going to go a little bit around the area so they know where I am (I don't think he understood me precisely but just said "oke oke"). Later on, when I came back home and had my impressions of what I had seen and took photographs of, mom Mieko brought me lunch from the restaurant. It included of course hot rice with some delicious sauce and some other vegetables. I felt pretty much satisfied and not hungry afterwards.

I spent the rest of the day by entering once more the restaurant but just quickly as I did not want to bother people there and had little contact with them. I was not sure if they knew I was staying with Ishikura-san and that it might be complicated to explain with poor knowledge of Japanese. Instead I came back to my room and was reading the learning material and sleeping again as I felt a headache. I used to get the headache right in the morning after waking up and in the afternoon after lunch. It lasted for almost a week until I totally got used to the time zone in Japan. In the evening I heard "Gureeego! " from downstairs and Ishikura-san told me to take long trousers as we were going to this party.

We were using the exterior stairs to climb to the second floor of the restaurant. There we took off our shoes and walked in the socks only. I saw that one part of the upper floor was filled with light and enclosed so that it was more than obvious the place was reserved and not meant for the others to be seen. Then we stepped into the reserved part of the hall.

I was a bit shocked and surprised as I saw about 30 people in suits, men from the Lions Club Gobo, and was a bit scared of what should I do and say there. I had no idea if anyone there spoke English to help me a bit and did not know if I had to prepare some speech in front of them. Everyone turned their faces towards me and started clapping and welcoming in Japanese which also made me feel a bit strange as I did not expect all this. The food was already prepared on the tables. We walked until the middle of the table and I sat next to Mr Hiro, the president of the LC Gobo. We introduced each other and then I shook my hands with the others around me. Half of the people were talking and looking into my direction. The majority of the people present that evening were a bit older guys. But left to me was sitting a (relatively) younger man and he spoke English. Apparently, it was the member of the host family which was supposed to host me but due to problems it was not possible. He told me not to worry about everything and that he was going to help me if I get stuck with language barrier.

Then the fun with the dinner started. We had a nice diverse buffet right in front of us and started enjoying the meal. There were some wines and sake and lots of different Japanese traditional meals. Again, I found sushi and enjoyed maguro with wasabi. Then they also brought me a cake with 'Gureko' written on it. I was curious about the meaning of this and asked someone. Apparently that was my name written on it. Since that day and the moment I sent the photograph to my friends and family it became one of the symbols of my trip and one of the favourite names for my grandparents since the moment they saw it. It was really delicious and I felt again more privileged than I should have been as a guest there. They put a lot of effort to make my first days fantastic. And they were trying to marry me to every possible girl there after I was naive and said I had no girlfriend. After that I was forced to make up a story of having one in order to spend my time there in peace and quiet. Actually, Mr English (let's call him like that) tried to put me in a relationship with every girl or a woman of my age we came across. He would start telling stories of me (and I had no idea what he said at all?! ) and I just wanted to escape. It happened in another restaurant and in the karaoke bar. Luckily not during the baseball match.

I had to say a few words eventually and totally confused myself and was not even able to remember "I am sorry but i do not speak Japanese. " In the end it was all okay. The guys in front of me (I met them a few more times including the day before my flight) told me they knew of Mirko Filipović and football. Most of them had known Yugoslavia and that it broke up in 90s but not much about the newer independent countries. What was especially fun to me was when one of the guys in front of me told me my face looked like Bill Gates. I believe I looked like any other Westerling from their perspective (and I agree much with that). Another funny thing was after the dinner was over and we were preparing to go home. One of the Lions members came again happy to me and wanted to meet me personally. He asked me if I was Canadian (after they mentioned "Kuroachia / Croatia" for about 50 times). I also met there my 3rd host family. Analysing the situation from the comfort of home and having all that already experienced makes many things much clearer than being there new and lost a bit with information.

Someone was taking lots of photos of us and one group picture of all of us around my host families and me in the center. I received them during the last days and keep them as a memory. Mr Ishikura told me I was going to help the next day by assisting in the restaurant. He said "tomorrow, arbaitu arbaitu, oke oke? ". I accepted it and was curious about the following day and went to sleep.

First day of work at the restaurant and welcoming guests from Hong Kong

After having a bit of a headache again in the evening (my 2nd night) I woke up about 8-9 a. m. and stayed for 15 minutes in the bed feeling like "just a few more minutes, please... " then I heard "Gureegooo" and Ishikura-san was calling me. I quickly jumped out, prepared myself, had breakfast and he came to me with the white work clothes that would suit my size. I was getting both excited about this and found it to be a pretty cool thing and at the same time a bit scared since I have never done this kind of a thing before. And this was not going to be helping someone in the kitchen but at the restaurant that had many visitors every day and I felt uncomfortable of thinking I could screw something up. The other thing that bothered me a little bit was how was I going to become part of the team there and socialise since there were mostly seniors working at the restaurant, they spoke only Japanese of course (with an exception of one older man who knew enough English for emergency situations and one more person of my age who was learning it). And here is what happened.

I went inside the restaurant through the automatic doors with Ishikura-san and entered the small room in the middle of the restaurant that was the place where the workers would come and leave for home, that used to be as another exit when carrying the boxes with the served dishes into a car in the yard and lastly the place where one would take the new gloves, protection masks for the face, white suits and boots.

I was told to put the mask on my face in order to make the preparation of the dishes as safe as possible (but did not have to put anything on hair as the women there had to). Talking of the boots or special slippers I had to take the biggest number there which was still smaller than my size so my fingers or the last part were a bit behind. They were also pink! Later on when we were washing the kitchen in the evening after work was done I was helping them but needed the boots for the job. The biggest number I found there was of the boss – Mr Ishikura.

We walked now inside the big room with several workers and here my story starts and everything changes. As soon as I stepped in I saw several tables with lots of plates and boxes around with prepared or half prepared dishes. There were two rows of tables and maybe 30-40 boxes marked with Anchin in Japanese. This was also the beginning of my Hiragana study. There were several people working there who were curious about me and we greeted each other but talked a little bit later. I was pretty careful not to do something stupid and a bit nervous if everything was going to be okay. The first task Ishikura-san tauught me to do was preparing the dishes for the lunch and it was about proper preparation of maguro, wasabi and shrimps with rice – or sushi, one of the variants. I was a little bit slow at the beginning making it sure I did not do something wrong but then quickly caught the desired tempo. After I prepared several boxes of dishes (and into each box there was a space for 4-6 plates, depending on size and importance) I wrapped them all with the plastic foil. After first successful job everything else was easy to do and the only barriers that slowed me down were the linguistic ones since sometimes I could not get right what they wanted from me unless showing (or especially when explaining where to take it... out of 10 words I understood 1).

I should also note one thing that is very important and part of the identity of the restaurant as I remember it - the music. There is a traditional Japanese music being played in the background in all the rooms of the first floor, particularly in the kitchen and the other room. You cannot be there and not hear it. It got stuck in my ears since the moment I entered the restaurant and spent hours inside. You can listen to something very similar here.

I could talk now for hours about everything refreshing my memory of all the tasks. So here is a list of several things I was doing there:

• Preparing sushi pack of maguro (tuna), wasabi, ebi (shrimp) and rice on yellow plates and later wrapped them with the foil. One also has to add the green plastic leaves next to the rice, the thing that most of you will recognise immediately on the photographs of the food. I enjoyed this part as it had also a strong smell and a few times I could not help myself but just take a little bit of the maguro (which tastes just fantastic) and eat just a little bit. I would then put all the prepared plates into the boxes which were further carried to the places reserved for the guests.

  

• Another job included preparing the salad with several ingredients. This was sometimes a bit time consuming as there could have been 4-5 different ingredients on the plate that required some special ratio and the way they were organised and it took me a bit more to get used to the right measures and tempo. For example, Mr Ishikura took a bit of the greenery or something and aid "sukoshi, sukoshi" ("a little bit, not much") and showed but later on I was grabbing a bit more than required then had to fix it. We joked then that in Japan sukoshi was just a finger as a measure of something and in Croatia a fist. He was laughing and said "no no no, Japanese stairu (style)“. When I take a look at the picture of it, it consists of a few pieces of salad, a bit of a meat cubes, some yellow-orange vegetable that I know no name of and the water with some spice. It was then covering another darker bowl when served for the visitors at the table and also later wrapped with the foil.
• I might include different sorts of desserts. On one of the photos below you can see what it looked like prepared. Some were with many ingredients and some with just a few. We would cut the fruit, put some cream and other flavours, but nothing was too much, just a bit of everything in order to make the balance with other food. This is also what I learned there that in the restaurants (and not rarely at home) they try to eat a lot of different food but trying to maintain balance. Unlike us at home where we prepare a tone of one dish of something they prefer to keep it diverse but small meals.
• Preparing soups was also interesting. It would include different ingredients too that I was not sure what they really are. I remember carrying the huge pot around with the hot water that was poured into the metal bowls and added a few more spicy things.

  

• Using the machine where one has to put the rice and then it will export it out nicely rolled – rice rollers. The machine had some sort of a plate that was turning around 360 degrees and was throwing out the rice packed as a little cylinders. I would then take them quickly and prior to that put my hands into the water in order to fix the little cylinders or rollers. After taping them I had to pay attention on which side I am putting them down in the box as it mattered (the part where you could see how the machine stocked two parts together). There were about 70-80 of these rice rollers per box. Later on they were used in combination with other dishes; wrapped into the black stripes or a shrimp was placed on them, filled with something else, etc... making some kind of a sushi.
• Packing the cookies. Now this was one nice somewhat easier job that I got used to the most. I also learned what to do on my first day. I sat on the table where I saw hundreds of cookies every single of them being wrapped into the transparent foil directly upon being exported from the machine. The cookies were shaped in the form of a bell. The very much same form of the one I saw earlier on the wall above the cashier and other souvenirs. And the same as I had seen later at Doujouji temple. The man who was working this job was in the third room between us and the store. He was the one who spoke English and for me he was known as Mr English-jin. We had there several wooden boxes where one would put the packed cookies. And here is what it looked like:

  

  

  There was a pile of two hundred cookies on the left side of the table, freshly prepared and brought from the other room. We also had a ventilator who kept trying making them cool. My task was to take the foil from the right side from the foil pack, a big one, and put 5 packed cookies in it while paying attention to turning them on the right side when inserting them in. And I had to take the cookies that were cooler, it was not good to put the very warm or hot ones in. Here I learned the words "yukkuri, atsui - atatakai dame dame, samui – tsumetai oke oke" which could be translated as "slowly, hot/warm is not good, cold okay! ". I was doing this maybe for 2 hours and it was nice as this is the kind of a job where I did not have to think too much of some other things rather than just paying attention to the proper inserting into the foil. I enjoyed doing this. I also used to put my notebook and the mobile phone aside in order to write thoughts, notes and translate vocabulary when needed (more of this soon). After putting them into the foil I would pack the foils into the wooden boxes where there was place for about 15-16 of the packs of 5 cookies. I filled several wooden boxes and would put them on on the right place. There were two other colleagues / co-workers who were doing the same or the next phase of the process. And this next phase was putting them then into a cardboard box along with some paper ready for the shop and the potential customers. A few times when I was done with putting the cookies into the big foil I would switch to the new phase and start filling the white boxes with the cookies and insert in the end a coloured paper with some info and facts of Anchin.

  

When not working or having a break I would walk around the restaurant and the shop to see what they got there and what were the prices like. It was especially interesting to see the tourists arriving by busses in front of the restaurant and then walking by it. Many of them would also enter our store and buy something. I was especially happy when I saw my packaging there and when someone took it to the cashier. The visitors were going to visit the Doujouji temple and afterwards would have their dinner waiting for them at Anchin on the upper or the first floor.

• Preparing different kinds of the main meal. I just have random flash memories of going to the kitchen to pick up the freshly baked and grilled shrimps and putting them back on the plates in the room I spent 70% of my day at. It was this 'tempura' – fried crabs or fish, that I was supposed to serve nicely on the plates along with few additions such as a sauce or salad.

  

  Delivering dishes by car. There was another restaurant pretty close by, about 50 meters away. And it was also full of people every day. Thus we had to go there several times a day quickly bringing the boxes with the food. I remember the first time I heard word "kuruma" which means "car" I had no idea what they wanted from me. Then I followed them around the restaurant with 3 yellow plastic boxes full of dishes being confused where to deliver it. Finally we went through the automatic doors (and it happened 100 times daily non-stop) and showed me where to put it behind in the car. I used to go with a colleague Kira-San who was pretty temperamental and open person, very talkative (and talked pretty fast, I could not understand almost anything of the vocabulary I learned). While I was trying to say "excuse me" we were already there by car, it is a ride of 30 second. We'd then quickly jump off and take the boxes inside the restaurant to the part reserved for the staff where one could wash it or replace with the newer ones. There was someone else waiting for us who was serving the guests and then forwarded the news/needs/requirements. I was supposed to quickly leave the stuff from the car and pick up the new ones. We would then rush back to Anchin #1 and get the new dishes waiting for us in the boxes. And then it all repeats.

• 

  Speaking of the other restaurant, I had seen it once when there were no guests and when Mr Ishikura went with me and mom Mieko. It had the illustration of the wife of Mr Ishikura-san, a pretty nice and beautiful art on the ceiling and the doors in manners of the traditional yet modern Japanese art. As I had heard this restaurant was mainly for the businessmen or "this kind of people" if you know what I mean.

• Serving the freshly cooked rice in the boxes. There was one of the elderly colleagues, an older woman, who showed me how to properly put rice and the proper measure for each bowl-box that was supposed to go for a single person. I called her 'sensei' (the teacher) which entertained a lot of them around including her and they were laughing constantly. We would then go to the kitchen and fill several boxes with around hundred cups filled with the fresh 'gohan' (rice). I would then carry them to the tables.
• Setting the table for the guests and carrying chairs. Another favourite part at the restaurant. I was helping with carrying the dishes from the kitchen and the other room in the yellow plastic boxes into the hall for the guests. The job then included sorting the plates and bowls properly and I had to come back 3-4 times on average in order to deliver all the dishes. This was the fun part with wrapping again all the plates to protect the food and before the guest arrived I had to ignite the little candles. It all looked pretty perfect in the end. I was just careful not to brake or drop something on the floor. Then, just for fun, I would take random newspapers and pretend that I am reading the news in order to entertain the others around me. If there were some shorter workers and the seniors I would try to help them by carrying their part and at least make them work less during these days I was there.

  I was rarely sent to the upper floor to prepare the dishes as we would have used the elevator from the kitchen where I had put the yellow boxes with dishes and press the button to deliver it up where someone would then pick it up. However, when we had to bring more chairs in case of lack, a few of us would grab the chairs from the room I worked in and walk up the stairs. I tried to help them again by taking double and told them not to worry. I did not find this to be exhausting, tiring or boring but waited for the chance to jump in and help. The more I was working with them the sooner we all got to understand each other perfectly.

Alright. Back to our story with the Hong Kong guests. You have probably forgotten the title after all this text. So, as I was spending more and more time with my co-workers we got used to each other and it was fun. After all I was trying to help them and it was fun for me and they had been entertaining themselves when watching me or even trying to speak in Japanese. There was also a funny scene during the first two hours of working there that day that the tallest one among them in the kitchen came to me while I was packing the cookies. The others quickly gathered around us and watched. He stood next to me and stretch to the normal height. After being confused for a moment I then quickly got what he wanted to see. I did the same and stood so that my natural and true height can be seen. I was still taller for several centimetres or maybe 2-3 inches so everyone was laughing while he just had a sad face after not having the desired triumph.

The kitchen before cleaning.

Having a break with Pocari!

In the evening when the sky got a bit darkened (and it was a cloudy day so even faster without visible sun) we had everything prepared and waited now for our guests from Hong Kong who were going to visit Doujouji and then come to us. They told me during the day (they... funny Mr Ishikura of course) that I will get the cook's hat on my head and will have to welcome the guest. I did not believe it that much but what happened was not far from truth.

I lit the candles and indeed got the white hat on head. I was still wearing the white suit. My colleagues told me that I will just have to stand next to the doors with the others when they start getting in and welcome them in Japanese by saying "Irashaimase! " which is sort of "welcome" referring to a shop or some service. Anyway, the moment came and I started saying that and bowing with the others. I think they were more surprised and confused when they saw me there than everything else earlier. I took a photo of them and a video and saw the happy faces when enjoying the dinner at Anchin. An hour earlier I set the table completely with one or two other colleagues so everything was perfect.

I could say the first day was a big success. Afterwards I got to know the others much better and through the next 2 weeks as I visited my colleagues there often we had our jokes and managed to overcome the language barriers. My Japanese on the first day and a week later was a difference of a hundred or two hundred words and phrases in vocabulary, the most important ones which helped me in everyday situation.

Which brings us to the next topic which is:

Learning Japanese at Anchin

When I think about everything months later I can say that I learned the most of the Japanese vocabulary while spending my time with the first family and colleagues at Anchin restaurant. During my first two-three days I was struggling a bit to be able to communicate with the locals since I had no prior knowledge of the local language. This was also my first experience ever to go in the area or country where some language was spoken that I had no clue what to do. In Austria and Switzerland I was able to survive with using German only. Even in Italy if I was forced to use Italian instead of English I tried with some phrases and survived. Here it was much more different since except for several phrases I entered a totally different world both culturally and linguistically.

My everyday with the host families and especially at Anchin always looked liked this: wherever I went to, alone, with someone or a group of people, at home or at work... I always kept a notebook and a pen in my pocket and several papers with the elementary Japanese vocabulary and phrases for tourists and learners. I was taking down the notes of everything I found to be important and of use to survive. I also had my mobile phone filled with several downloaded applications to learn Japanese. These included some English-Japanese and Japanese-English dictionaries, apps to help me learn read and write hiragana and katakana, and one that helped me with the elementary grammar and phrases for the travelling.

Speaking of Anchin only, I learned the majority of the vocabulary right there interacting with my co-workers. In the beginning I could not understand them almost anything but I tried to record all the words they said and tried to search for the translation in the e-dictionaries. The efforts had paid off as I was able to make a basis of more or less everything important they were saying there. It included things such as "quickly, slowly, take left, go right, straight, in the car... " and also the names of the food. While packing the cookies for instance I kept my notebook on the table next to me so in case of emergency I was able to look after the words or write the new ones.

It was also very interesting for my colleagues to follow what I did and my progress with the language. Certainly they did not have a boring time when I was with them and I hope I broke the everyday they had there. After several days of having studied the grammar on my mobile phone and from the papers I tried to build the larger sentences in Japanese only in present tense and expand the vocabulary. So imagine me there, in front of them, trying to tell them about my adventures in Japan, what I did and what I saw, about Croatia and home... in broken Japanese. Every time when I had a break I would revise everything i had written so far and talk to myself or with them for fun. I tried to write some Hiragana but back there I was able to recognise maybe 10 characters in total. I learned to read Hiragana once I came back home (as for Katakana, forgot almost everything though, I see the signs but forgot the reading).

Every night before sleep I used to spend an hour in my room reading the materials and trying to remember the phrases or understand more of the grammar. This was the unique experience and a good situation to test my methods, experiment a bit and see what functions best when learning a foreign language from scratch but being surrounded with the natives every day. Of course, the purpose of the Lions Exchange had nothing to do with learning languages. I mean, that was not the purpose and the goal, to go to some country and learn the local language. It was mostly me who desired to learn Japanese because – why not? My opinion is that everyone should at least try to learn the local language of the place you are going to visit and stay in as it shows your respects towards them. Learning the local language is also an excellent opportunity to immerse into society and culture. You will understand and see the things from different perspective and of course from the locals one. For me it was fascinating the way the Japanese see the world regarding the language and especially using 3 scripts at the same time in writing (or even 4 including the Latin script which the were able to read too). I wanted to see how difficult it would be for someone who has not been surrounded with this system since the early age to develop and react. Thus I felt like Indiana Jones every time I was able to recognise and guess the meaning of some Kanji symbols or hiragana signs on the products or the monuments.

Anyway, after revising everything and trying to learn more of the vocabulary I would try to use it in conversations with my colleagues at the restaurant. And they always kept me motivated and supported for every try or mistake I did and encouraged to continue further. From what I heard there they found it sometimes impossible or strange to see the foreigners (or Westerns like me) to try to speak in Japanese as they might have not been used to it and the whole idea of Japan as an island and planet for itself.

I also gave my colleagues the papers so they would write for me in hiragana or tried in Latin script the words or phrases. Sometimes I had to draw things, literally what I meant (a house, sun, evening, night, running, eating... ) in order that we understand each other and.. well, it took a bit of creativity but it was fun in the end.

In conclusion, all the Japanese I remember at the moment and could use in conversation with some natives in the streets is the Japanese I learned while helping at the restaurant, visiting it later and interacting with the colleagues there.

The rest of the days before moving to the new family

Though I spent about a week with my first host family and the restaurant owners I did not work at the restaurant every day as they made excursions with me around the area to show me the sightseeing and interesting places. Then I would go alone around or stay at home a bit. I also discovered a piano in one room of my host family as my younger Japanese sisters there and the grand children of Mr Ishikura played the piano. After playing it for them, mom Mieko invited two other colleagues from the restaurant so I played a little concert for them.

Actually, when I had nothing else to do and did not want to stay at home I went twice into the restaurant, now feeling pretty comfortable with everything, took my white clothes and the slippers, put the gloves and started assisting them in preparation of dinner. I thought it would be a waste of time sitting at home and doing nothing (or going around by foot as I already had seen everything) and I was honestly happy to stay with the others there and help them. I would ask everyone there if they needed my assistance otherwise I would automatically go to the cookies, pack all of them and let my co-workers listen to a bit of my music from the smartphone (since they had nothing against it). That being said Anchin cookies were being packed with TBF songs in the background. I just felt satisfied and "knew my place", where I had to be and wanted to be while working there. I already learned the procedure and the daily phases of preparing lunch or dinner for the guest, knew everything with the delivery by car and what to do at the next restaurant, using the elevator in the kitchen to send the dishes up, carrying the chairs, preparing the table, etc.

At the end of the week on my last day I showed them the national clothing of Northern Croatia which was very interesting to them and something totally different from what they were used to. In the end Ishikura-san became a "Zagorec" with "škrilak" on his head.

I also brought my laptop with photographs of Croatia and a magazine in Japanese so everyone made a break and came to read at the table.

Visiting Anchin by bike

When I changed my host families I was about 1, 5-3 kilometres away from the restaurant. I asked if they had a bicycle and they had one which was a special pleasure for me there to go by bike through the streets around Gobo. After changing to my 3rd host family that was 1, 5 kilometre away I took their bike, checked on the google maps where to go and then came to surprise my first family and the colleagues at the restaurant. I would then leave the bike in front of the store and my hat and headphones inside and then went inside. They were always happy and a bit surprised when they saw me. I would then make a tour around the place and also sneak into the family house behind and surprise mom Mieko, the rest of the family and our cat Mitsa.

I visited them 3-4 times by bike. Once while staying at the 4th family I went there for a short visit but they made me have a lunch with them which I did not refuse, ate in the kitchen of the family's house and then decided to stay a bit longer to finish the packing of the cookies and see if they needed some other job.

Unexpected visit by camp

Two weeks later when I joined the camp we made a trip to Gobo and Hidaka to visit Doujouji temple. Ishikura-san was also with us. After visiting the temple I wanted to visit my colleagues and I started running down the portal and stairs from the temple's hill through the street to the restaurant. I greeted everyone again and told them what we had seen with the camp (meanwhile I visited Hiroshima, Osaka, Universal Studios Japan and other places), showed them some pictures and promised we were going to see each other at the end of July.

Greetings from Anchin and LC Gobo while in camp

During one of our camp trips around Kansai region we spent one day and a night at a hotel near Shirahama beach. After spending several hours in the morning swimming in the Pacific with a very warm sea and sand (and stupid me who forgot to put sun cream and got sunburned like a tomato) we enjoyed the fireworks in our honour at the beach in the evening. And then something happened that confused me there and put into a bit uncomfortable situation since I had no idea what was going on. During the fireworks we heard the loud speaker talking in Japanese. I heard several times Lions Club XY including LC Gobo, the name of a few other participants and lastly name of families Ishikura, Yanase, Anchin and Lions Club Gobo. And my name 'Gurego-san' too. I was confused as I had no idea what was happening, should we say something or what? When I came back to Anchin and Gobo after the camp experience they explained me there that my Gobo friends sent me a greeting message while I was in the camp. I felt sorry that I did not understand the message and that no one else there translated what they were saying. I was very happy, proud and full of respect for them and what they did. I even got a small present from Mr Ishikura later, a frame with the photo of Shirahama beach and the text in Japanese about me and LC experience there as a memory.

The last day in Japan and Anchin

I spent 2-3 days back in Gobo before going home to Croatia. I wanted to use the opportunity to hang out with the others as much as I could before I leave. Thus I used the opportunity to go by back again to Anchin, talk with the others and help them a little bit like 3-4 weeks earlier "where it all started". There came as well the other people from Lions Club Gobo whereas some knew English so I was able to table talk about all the experience and thoughts I had during the month there. On my last two days I went there and spent a few hours in total.

On my last day I spent the whole day going around by bike and visiting everyone I knew for the last time (before the next time! ). The last on the list to visit were Doujouji to talk with Mr Ono and Anchin. I had to share with the others that today we would be packing the last cookies together until I return and I was sad. After a short visit I told them that I needed go to back for lunch to my 3rd family Yanase and that I would come once more quickly to them later before entering car for the airport.

And that never happened. We had no time later to go back to Anchin and I missed the opportunity to talk with mom Mieko and my colleagues and friends there as I wanted to. It was good in the end that I went to Anchin before lunch because, at first, I planned to do it afterwards.

Conclusion and what happened after Japan

It was strange when I was in Zagreb the other day surrounded with my normal everyday life, family and friends. Just 24 hours earlier I was at the restaurant in Japan!

I stayed in contact with many of them who had Facebook or we have been using Email or Whatsapp/Line to communicate and share the news. Thus they got greeting cards from Croatia, from Dalmatia, and from Vienna during the Christmas holidays. We send each other reports as photographs and so on.

I have to mention a few memorable gifts from Anchin that are going to become the family heritage and hopefully will be used more frequently soon when I am going to be at home after Austria.

When I was leaving the first family and the restaurant they gave me as a gift two wooden original boxes and a circular plate for the sushi and Japanese lunch pack. I was so happy and thankful for them. I also got the high quality chop sticks for the whole family and we tried to eat with them when Madoka was with our family later in August. These are for sure going to be a nice memory on the fantastic days spent in Japan at Anchin and the others. I also recently got a photograph of Ishikura-san and one other colleague from the kitchen (the cook who knew about Mirko Filipovic and often checked what I was doing by saying "so so so") sent by my other friend working there.

Thanks for reading.