a little bit of hilarity to make it all seem worthwhile

Sometimes I'm reminded of a major epiphany I had when I was studying abroad here two years ago--that the best way to communicate in Japanese is to make it funny, but this is also one of the hardest things to do well in this very indirect, bizarre languages. In Kyoto I did it by speaking pretty natural Kyoto-dialect, which was especially hilarious when talking to old, racist Japanese people who blamed all Americans for the bomb. They just couldn't believe that a foreigner could actually speak their language well enough to know the local dialect, and the incredulous looks on their faces were amazing every time. 

But today something accidental happened in class and it brought this epiphany back home. I don't know how we got on the subject but in one of my junior high first year classes (so the 13 year olds) we started talking about nishikigoi, one of Ojiya's four famous products (besides soba noodles, hot air balloons, and fireworks). They are colored (nishiki 錦) carp (koi 鯉). And I can't even quite remember how I got started on it--I think the Japanese teacher asked me if I knew what nishikigoi was, and I said, yes of course, but then I said something like, colored snakes! I said it in English and then I said it in Japanese (Nishiki hebi). And this one girl started laughing really hard, and the Japanese teacher was like, no, that's not what they are, they are carp. And I was like, oh oh okay. But then I kept saying Nishiki--and then the name of random animals in Japanese and the kids found it HILARIOUS. At least three boys literally fell out of their chairs because they were laughing so hard. I think the one they liked best was Nishikiusagi (colored rabbit). And now I have an amazing inside joke with 38 13 year olds!!!!!