We were enjoying a cup of coffee and cocoa (respectively–I had the coffee) in the Doutor at the main intersection in Ginza when we struck up a conversation with three young Asian women. One of them was from Singapore, one was from China, and one was from Hong Kong; they were also in Tokyo on vacation. Among other things, we talked about languages. Their English was quite good; I asked how they happened to be so proficient, and they said that most Chinese start learning English in the fourth grade. Moreover, proficiency in English is one of three major requirements for college entrance; the other two are Chinese and mathematics. Imagine if every engineering major in the US had to be proficient in a second language, or every liberal arts freshman had to be skilled with math.
The conversation got rolling in large part when I couldn’t help but comment on this package, which one of them pulled out of a shopping bag from a nearby department store:
It contained a cheesecake, or something sort of like cheesecake and sort of like ice cream. This particular one was a special version for the sakura season and had a layer of cherry-flavored goo on top. (At their insistence I tried a bite.) As we explained to them, the bizarre part was that Tracie and I lived in and met in Oregon, and here we were in Japan, sitting next to someone from China who had just purchased something which referenced Oregon.
Looking at the Google translation of the Sweet of Oregon Web site isn’t particularly enlightening (though it ‘s pretty amusing) but it does say “Pastry owner met in Oregon, USA, …. I was made based on the secret recipe for “Grandma Gills Virtuoso” cheesecake.”