Everyday scenes in Japan, from introductions to a visit to the bank. In each one you say your role’s lines out loud.
びょういん
You have been coughing for a week, and in this room it is already settled: the examination is over, it is a bad cold, and a strong cough medicine is being written out. One thing about you is not known here — you spend your whole working day behind the wheel, and this medicine makes you drowsy. Only you can say so, and it has to be said now, before the appointment ends.
ひどい風邪ですね。咳によく効く薬を出します。
shortabout 2 min
びょういん
You called a colleague about work yesterday, and his wife answered: he is in the hospital, the surgery was on Tuesday, and nobody at the office knows. You stopped by after work — not to visit him, but because the materials he was handling are due on Monday. You offer to take the work over, and he asks for something else: bring him his laptop and he will do it himself. You cannot simply agree, and you cannot simply refuse.
きのう仕事で電話したら、奥さんに入院だと聞きました。びっくりしました。
mediumabout 3 min
ホテル
You land on a morning flight and reach the hotel by midday, with a suitcase and after a night without sleep. The booking is there, but check-in starts at three, and the room will not be yours before then. So there is something else to settle: where to leave the suitcase, and what to do with those three hours.
早く着いてしまったんですが、今チェックインできますか。
shortabout 2 min
ホテル
It is morning, the second night of four behind you. The people next door talked until late, and you barely slept. You go down to the desk to ask for another room — there are two more nights to come. But nothing is free today, and the night that has to be got through is tonight.
隣の部屋が夜遅くまでとてもうるさかったんです。あまりよく眠れませんでした。
mediumabout 3 min
でんわ
Morning, and you are the first one in: the shop opens at half past nine, the delivery comes at nine, and that driver will not wait. Then the manager rings. He is on his way in, but his train has stopped between stations after an accident, and the key to the shop is with him. Nobody knows when it will move again. Neither of you can find a way out alone: he knows half of what is needed, and you know the other half.
はい、田中です。
mediumabout 4 min
でんわ
Evening. You and a friend are travelling together tomorrow, the meeting time has changed, and you ring her at home to tell her. Her father picks up: Sakura is out until around ten, and you have already tried her mobile with no answer. The call could end there, but her father knows more about his daughter than he was asked, and each time he says a little more than the answer required. The message will have to go through him — and in the end it won’t only be the time.
もしもし、田中ですが、さくらさん、いらっしゃいますか。
shortabout 2 min
ゆうびんきょく
A parcel came while nobody was home, so here you are at the post office counter with the slip. Except the parcel isn’t in yet: the van gets back around six, and you work until eight. Delivering again tomorrow won’t work either — tomorrow morning you leave on a week-long business trip. Both ways are closed, and the answer isn’t yours to find.
昼に荷物が届いたようなんですが、留守でした。これ、今受け取れますか。
shortabout 2 min
ゆうびんきょく
Your friend abroad has a birthday next Friday, and the box with her present is already on the counter at the international post office. Airmail takes about a week, so it would get there in time. But no parcel goes abroad without the clerk asking what is inside, and inside, among the sweets, there is perfume — and perfume is not carried by air at all, while by sea it takes two months. The rule will not bend and Friday will not move, so the way out is yours to find.
友達の誕生日が今度の金曜日なんです。この荷物、間に合いますか。
shortabout 2 min
かいもの
A week ago you bought your son shoes here. He tried them on at home — they pinch his toes; he hasn’t worn them outside. You threw the receipt away and came for your money anyway. The owner remembers you, so the receipt isn’t needed, but the money isn’t coming back: only an exchange. And a bigger pair is no answer — he will tell you why. Your son has a school outing on Friday, and the conversation turns from which size to which day.
先週、息子さんの靴ですね。どうしましたか。
shortabout 2 min
えき
Morning, pouring rain, the trains have stopped — and you are due at work by nine. A station attendant walks down the platform past the people waiting; you stop him, and it turns out that nobody can say when the trains will run again. So you will have to get there another way. And at work words alone will not do — you need a piece of paper: he knows what it is called, you know how much time ought to be written on it.
あのう、電車が止まっているんですけど、九時までに会社に行きたいんですが。
shortabout 2 min