Trattoria Buono! #77 (2014.09.20)

♪ Buono! – Mirai Drive ♪

Momoko announces that September 20th is ‘Sora no Hi’, literally ‘Sky Day’, or alternatively, ‘Aviation Day’. It’s in commemoration of the first flight over the skies of Tokyo, made in a blimp developed by Yamada Isaburo.

Momoko starts putting on airs, going ‘Ah, that Yamada-san’, acting like she’s familiar with the name. The other two join her in hamming it up, praising this Yamada-san, though it’s not that showy Yamada. Airi then slips up while trying to make a My Neighbours the Yamadas reference.

Momoko (teasingly): Thank you very much for that one slip-up today.

The discussion starts with Momoko pointing out that they often ride aeroplanes due to their line of work, so she’d like to know if the others are good or bad with flights.

Momoko: I’m bad with them.

Miyabi: I’m bad with them too.

Airi: I’m okay.

Airi asks Momoko to explain what she means by being ‘good with flights’. Momoko asks Airi if she finds the rumbling of the plane scary, but Airi finds it enjoyable. Airi shares a story of her sitting in the seat closest to the emergency exit, with the seat for cabin attendants right in front of her.  While she was sitting there, she was handed a piece of paper informing her that in case of an emergency, she should assist others in leaving the plane, and that she would be last person to leave the plane.

Airi: I thought I would die.

Being in that situation, she paid a lot more attention to the flight safety explanation, double checking everything and seriously reading the safety pamphlet. Momoko suggests that people who sit in those seats must feel a great sense of responsibility.

Momoko finds that she can’t handle it when the pressure drops, finding it painful.

Momoko: It hurts – but you know, then I think about wanting to meet the fans as soon as possible.

Airi: Hmmmnnnhhh~

Momoko: …

Miyabi: *muffled giggling*

Momoko: Thank you very much for the second slip-up.

♪ Music ♪

Discussion topic: A hobby that I got into once I grew up.

In the sense that these hobbies may not have been interesting when they were young, but became an activity of interest after they had turned into adults. After all, all three of them are legally adults. In Airi’s case, one of her goals when she turned twenty was to go to a Japanese bar and have mackerel there. In her mind, she had imagined it being delicious.

Airi: So I ate some.

Momoko: How was it?

Airi: It was normal.

Miyabi: No way. I had some super delicious mackerel the other day.

Airi explains that it was delicious, but she was expecting something way more amazing. Miyabi describes the mackerel she had – it was amazing, it was nice and plump, it had two backbones instead of the usual single spine. This statement about the number of backbones has the other two pretty surprised. Airi finds it somewhat scary, while Momoko double-checks with Miyabi, to make sure that it was a mackerel. Miyabi insists that it was a mackerel and shows them a photo of it. Both Momoko and Airi agree that it looks like a normal mackerel. Momoko suggests that perhaps it might look as if it had two backbones when spread open, with Airi adding in that mackerels in boxed lunches were prepared in the same way.

An example of a mackerel that’s prepared for cooking – note the ‘two’ back bones

Miyabi then starts looking it up, and Momoko suggests she look up mackerel on Wikipedia.

Momoko: Apologies about this slight interruption. But Natusyaki Miyabi is studying up on mackerel with everything she’s got.

Airi: Perhaps it’ll make all the listeners feel like having mackerel tonight.

Momoko then suggests Miyabi look up the keywords ‘Mackerel Bone Two’ in Google, while Airi suggests that ‘mackerel number of bones’ might be a better search keyword. However, the link that Miyabi opens is from Cookpad, a Japanese cooking recipe site. This bewilders Momoko.

Momoko: With the frying pan… Why do you have Cookpad open? (start laughing) Why do you have Cookpad open!?

Miyabi: I use Cookpad often.

Momoko: It’s not like we’re trying to find out how to cook up an excellent mackerel.

Airi: I want to know, I want to know~ ♪

Miyabi explains that she wanted to compare photos, and the image on the site looked like it had two bones as well. But no, Momoko tells her that mackerel always looks like that. According to Airi, if you’re lucky, the bone might not be stuck to one side. ‘But that’s more to do with how it’s prepared,’ Momoko quips.

Miyabi: Is that so? So it was just normal.

Momoko does tell her that she should still treasure that way of finding joy in small things. Miyabi still seems a bit startled, since she thought it was something special. Momoko starts trying to explain deeper but ends up making it even more muddled, and as Airi tries to correct Momoko, Miyabi gets fed up and goes, ‘That’s enough’.

Miyabi: Okay, I got it.

Momoko: Sorry.

Miyabi: It’s all right.

Momoko: Mackerel looks like it has two bones.  (The girls giggle) And the mackerel that Miya ate was most likely…

Airi: A normal mackerel.

Miyabi: That’s it. I’ve realised it now. I’ll delete this.

Momoko and Airi persuade her to keep the photo, as a memory. Momoko sums up by saying that even though there are some hobbies that people start enjoying as they grow older, like golf or drinking at a bar or going for a drive, she’s found that the hobby that brings her the greatest joy is being able to learn new things.

Momoko: And today we were taught by Miya. Thank you.

Airi: Thank you.

Miyabi: You’re welcome.

Momoko: Everyone, without being pretentious, without forgetting to take photos, please enjoy your hobbies.

Secret voice note

Situation: This week’s note comes from a 21 year old guy in university who had always aimed to become a comedian, since he was in primary school. But his dream got knocked down recently when he tried putting on a comedy act with his best friend at his university club and it turned out pretty badly. Not a single one of his jokes received even a chuckle. He asks if he should give up his dreams and start looking for work, or should he continue to chase after his dreams and aim to be a comedian. ‘What should I do? Please tell me directly!’

Momoko: ‘What should I do? Please tell me directly!’

Miyabi: This is one for Suzuki-san.

Momoko: Go ahead.

Airi (resolutely): Give up.

Airi says that she has two friends who were aiming to be comedians. One of them got scouted and is now working hard at it, while the other decided to give up. 21 is a critical age, after all. She explains that the world of comedy is a difficult one, and just because you think you’re funny doesn’t mean that your jokes would be well received. Airi thinks that while it may be cool to say that you’re chasing after your dreams, if he thinks about his future realistically and finds it impossible, he’ll probably decide that he should quit.

Momoko suggests that it might be his comedy partner, but Airi points out that the listener wrote that his partner was his best friend. Momoko has no idea what to add beyond that. Miyabi suggests that he try it for another year or two, but Airi notes that it’s about crunch time to look for employment. They start talking about how a university club consists of a small group of friends, and marvel at how professional comedians are watched by great numbers of people. After all, they have to get laughs, no matter what. They continue to heap praise on comedians, and how difficult their lives must be.

Airi: Well, I told him to give up, but if he really wants to do it, he should. Honestly, he shouldn’t listen to others.

Momoko: Oh!

Miyabi: How cool.

Momoko: You came up with some wise words!

Momoko notes that Airi’s on fire today, perhaps spurred on by Miyabi’s mackerel incident. Airi mentions that she’s made space for mackerel in her tummy.

Miyabi: You’ll be able to have two backbones.

Momoko: Ah, no, you won’t.

Momoko sums up, that just as Airi said, they understand the feeling of wanting to get some advice, but the decision has to come from within himself in the first place. But if he’s worrying alone, he should talk with his best friend, his partner for support.

♪ Buono! – co・no・mi・chi ♪