Before I left Japan in May, I planned a pub crawl in Tokyo's Shibuya district with some friends. My friend Brian had to work until 7 p.m., so I first went for ramen with a couple of Japanese friends. One spoke English but the other didn't, so I figured I would speak only Japanese in order to make sure everyone understood each other. When Brian arrived, we could switch between the languages and balance things out.

We walked to the restaurant, chatting in Japanese on the way — about nothing of any great import. I asked about the girls' work. 「今どんな仕事してるの？」 ("Ima donna shigoto shite runo?" "What kind of work do you do?") To my surprise, helicopters were involved. 「まじで？！乗れるの？」 ("Majide?! Noreru no?" "For real? Do you get to ride in them?") One girl replied, 「いえいえ、クライアントのために用意するの。クライアントが乗るのよ。」 ("Ieie, kuraianto no tame ni yōi suruno. Kuraianto no ga noru noyo." "No, no. We organize them for clients. The clients ride in the helicopter.")

We also discussed the bars I planned to take them to, and I explained that these were serious craft-beer bars, with serious pints of seriously strong beer. 「だから飲み過ぎないようにシェアしたほうがいいかもしれない。」 ("Dakara nomisuginai yō ni shea shita hō ga ii kamoshirenai." "So it might be best to share [pints] so we don't get too drunk.") 「ええ？ダニエル、弱いの？」 ("Ee? Danieru, yowai no?" "Huh? Can't you hold your booze, Daniel?") Clearly, I was making a great impression.