A Surprise

Last thursday, the 31st of July, I got a parcel in the mail in Spain, my mother told me. I asked from whom, since I wasn’t expecting anything at all, and it was from my friend Michael who is on a year break in Japan.

Want to see what was inside?

Nicely wrapped, with a ribbon!

Then we find the box:

And when you open the box…

A knife! It’s a Usuba, a Japanese style (they also make Western style) vegetable knife. Michael always remembers I’m a vegetarian, and he got me my own Japanese knife!

It’s engraved with my name (I blacked out my surname, obviously). The Kanji I think it’s the name of the craftsman that forged my knife. Have a closer look:

The story behind this knife? Well, a couple of months ago I asked Michael to check some Kanji for me, to make sure it meant what I thought it meant. It will become one day a small set of rubber stamps. He also asked if I wanted anything else, and I told him, jokingly, that a knife engraved with my name would be welcome. He was interested by this thing I had seen in a travel documentary about Japan, and asked me about it. So I did some research, and found the shop that does this, and gave him a name and an address. He passed by, and bought his parents a knife as a present. And then he thought of me, how I had given him the idea, and bought me one!

I’ve already thanked him personally, and his invited over to a veggie dinner cooked using my new knife. But I also want to thank him here, “in the open”.