Mickey Bistro Set

William and I have been busy today. Among other things, we assembled a Mickey Bistro table and chair set that we found at the local Japanese Hardware store, Home's. The Japanese love Disney stuff and you see it everywhere. I'm not sure you could find one of these in the states. Caroline had spotted it and told me about it. I went out to buy it and it was one of those cultural experiences. I found it, but didn't see the boxes anywhere for it, so I had to ask in my very limited Japanese. It took some time and several people, but we eventually understood that it was out of stock and that they could order it. I filled out some paperwork and gave them my phone number and I hoped all would work out.

I got a call a few days later from a man who spoke no English, I had my question all worked out in Japanese "Taberu to Isu asoko des ne?" which I think is asking if the table and chairs are there. I was hoping for a "Hai" but what I got instead was a long string of Japanese and I could only imagine what he was saying, "Yes, it is here and can you please pick it up", "No, it is not here and it will take three months to get it here," "Yes it is here, but it's made out of lead with PCB paint..." He kept saying "eto" though, so after we finally agreed to hang up without understanding each other, I looked up the word "eto" on line hoping it meant "Come pick up your order" or "Next week" or something very telling. It apparently is the word that Japanese use where we might say, "uhmm". Seems we were saying the same thing on both ends of the line... Anyway, I stopped off and showed the order form and a gentlemen came out with the box! Success! Assembling the whole thing with the Japanese instructions was a cinch in comparison!