A Modest Proposal

Tonight we played in Koriyama, a 40-minute shinkansen (bullet train) ride south of Sendai. A nice hall, but small - perhaps 400 seats? (I'm really bad at estimating how many; sorry!)

Anyway, after the concert, the audience was invited up on stage to ooh and ahh over the bells. We always enjoy this bit because they look so excited and happy to get to touch the instruments & learn how to ring them. They also get excited when they encounter one of us who know a little bit of Japanese!

As the stage started to clear, a young man (early 20s?) came up to me & excitedly told me, "You are so COOL! I am falling in love with you. Will you marry me?"

I giggled & covered my face in the embarrrassed Japanese schoolgirl fashion & then pointed at my wedding ring and said, "Gomen nasai [I'm very sorry], but I'm already married!"

He seemed very disappointed! He then proceeded to tell me how beautiful I am:

"Your eyes are so deep and your nose..." here he gestured with his hand indicating that I have a long nose.

I had to laugh because that's the first time in my life anybody has told me I'm beautiful *because* I have a big nose! LOL!