I have two adult "education" classes: The Broken English Club (BEC) and the 14th Annual Susaki International Association (SIA, currently in its third year). Tonight was SIA, owned and operated by the most-wonderful Hosogi-san.

Hosogi-san was the fourth person I met upon arriving in Japan. He was at the enkai that my work set up for me when I got into Susaki-shi. He stuck out for a couple of reasons. First, he looks an awful lot like Yoda from Starwars, all bald and wrinkled and drooling. Plus, he speaks just like Yoda, with the verb at the end of the sentence and everything else before it totally random. I couldn't understand a word he said. He seemed nice enough.

A few weeks later he came into the office with one of the ladies from the first enkai, and they took me to the fish market down by the harbour. There was every kind of fish you could imagine, gasping and flopping on the deck. The lady that was with us, Kaori-san, bumped into her brother and he gave her a fresh octopus. So on my third week in Japan I got to skin an octopus (an octopus is all skin, so you know - you peel it off the skeleton, which is actually the head) and eat it with mayonaise. It was somewhere in there that Hosogi-san invited me to join the SIA.

Our first meeting was on the beer gardens at the Susaki Prince Hotel, a surprisingly nice place for a concrete-and-fish place like Susaki. Together with Kaori-san and Shimasaki-san, a retired English teacher who "is so small because 'you Americans' starved 'us Japanese' during the war", we drank beer and talked English. Now, it's a ritual.

Usually, I get an email that goes something like this. "Jon-san! How are you. We are fine. We are fine. Next meeting Thursday at Oonogo Community Centre. Are you OK?" Usually I'm ok, so the meeting is on.

Every fourth time or so Shimasaki-san drinks too much and starts blaming me for the Americans. "You Americans are overweight, you eat too many cheeseburgers. We Japanese are very healthy. You Americans starved us, blah, blah, blah..." I smile and nod like a good foreigner, and he forgets what he was ranting about soon enough. Then it's back to laughing and eating.

Hosogi-san is especially hilarious. He's only studied English for two years and he's 60 now (his other hobby is morse code). He speaks it pretty good but some of the stuff that comes out of his mouth! I usually egg him on, though. Like tonight I was helping him practice up for his trip to America, and I got him to say "Do you have any sashimi?" and "I'll have a cheeseburger and fries please?" I suppose you had to be there.

Anyway, SIA is a lot of fun for the one Thursday a month I do it. Good night.