Himitsu: Secret

Caitlin and I first learned the meaning of hitmitsu when a young, terribly overworked, Japanese doctor spontaneously joined us for dinner one night. Over a bottle of wine and okinawan cuisine he explained, in nearly perfect English, that his job was very stressful, and on that particular evening he was sipping his sake in an effort to escape the haunting reality of a patient who had died that day. Somewhere in our conversation he introducted the word hitmitsu to us. Although the context is now blurry, I remember the nemonic device that we thought of to remember the useful vocabulary word. He-meets-you. It's a secret.

A few nights ago I was drinking with the teachers from my main elementary school, not to extinguish bad memories as the doctor had done; but rather to celebrate the success of our English demonstration lesson earlier that day. I was somewhat the guest of honor because I had put a great deal of energy into making the school's English department look successful to the 100 guests who observed my class. The gratitude from my co-workers was lovely, but I humbly explained to them that it was no problem at all, considering that all I had to do was speak my native language.

As the night carried on and the teachers got more and more red in the face, my co-workers and I had entered the special zone where all lines of appropriateness had vanished, and the secrets began to pour out.

At a previous work party with the teachers from my main junior high, I had learned all sorts of juicy information from the head of the English department at that school. The gossiping was followed by karaoke--a secret behavior in itself.



Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at the situation, karaoke did not happen the night of my elementary school party. However, I did show one teacher (who I had never spoken with before) how to take a sake bomb. I confessed my reasons for not being so into Japanese guys to the office ladies, and listened to stories that I only half understood, but nodded as if I was fluent in Japanese. I bonded with the girl around my age who is responsible for preparing school lunches. She explained to me that she plans to quit her job come April to run off to Osaka to live with her boyfriend that her mother does not know about.

Of course, it was all a big hitmitsu.