Recently, one of my American students approached me with a cultural query. He and a bunch of his friends, American and Japanese, had been talking about planning a birthday party.
「来週、誕生日だからパーティーをやりたい」 (Raishū, tanjōbi dakara pātī o yaritai, It's my birthday next week, so I want to throw a party), one of the students said. Everyone seemed to think it was a good idea, responding with, 「そうなんだ、行きたい！」 (Sō nanda, ikitai!, Oh really, I want to go!) and 「いいね、やろうやろう！」 (Ii ne, yarō yarō!, That’s great, let's do it!).
When the party took place a week later, only a few people showed up — all of them Americans. What cues did my student miss?
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