Noon. I opened my eyes still half-asleep, and a woman I didn't know came into the room and spoke to me in Japanese.
Her Japanese was so perfect that for a moment my head glitched. I hadn't expected to hear Japanese in such a distant country right after waking up.
Double booking and a motivational breakfast
When I heard the story, it turned out I'd accidentally made a new reservation without applying to extend my stay, and she wanted me to cancel the hostel booking. Mixing English and Japanese, I told her the payment had already been made. She then went back outside.
I took a shower and went to eat breakfast. Since it was close to 12, I thought they would have already cleaned up, but there was a name plate with my name on it.
What surprised me was the back of the plate. There was a very motivational message written in Japanese. The wording was really good, and I thought it must have been written by the woman who had spoken to me earlier, who only works on weekends.
After replying on HelloTalk and Telegram, I returned to my room. No plans for the day—I was very tired, so I didn't schedule anything. There was supposed to be a BBQ at night, so until then I spent time writing the Turkey diary I'd been putting off.
Meeting Elina
The woman from earlier came nearby, so I asked when the BBQ would start. She replied, 'Japanese is fine,' and from there we talked about all sorts of things.
Her name is Elina. She's a third-year university student studying Japanese. She stayed in Japan for three months during her first and second years and interned at a hotel's restaurant. Her love for Japan is huge—she even sang the Don Quijote jingle, the Daiso song, and 'Rassun Gorerai' (laughs).
For some reason I felt a little embarrassed. I realized I wasn't that interested in Japan, and I might have felt a bit guilty about that.
We ate together. I had sushi; Elina had pasta and eggs. She said she wants to study at a graduate school in Japan after graduating next year, mentioning Yokohama and Enoshima and saying, 'They're such romantic towns~.' She wants to become a diplomat or an envoy. I thought her dedication, communication skills, and sense of humor would surely fit Japan well.
Howl's Moving Castle heard in distant Kyrgyzstan
We started talking about instruments, and since Elina said singing and piano were her hobbies, it led to us deciding to play piano together. When we moved to the hall, a boy who works at another reception desk was already playing the piano, and we were like, 'Oh, you can play too!?' surprised.
He said he'd only been teaching himself piano for four days. Even so, he'd improved a bit and showed us. To have gotten this far in four days was honestly impressive.
He apparently liked French music, so I played Édith Piaf and 'La Bohème.' He also liked jazz and said the first thing he learned was a Dave Brubeck Quartet piece. When he said he liked Studio Ghibli's 'Howl's Moving Castle,' I played it for him and he was very surprised. 'I want to be able to play this song. Playing it makes me really relaxed,' he said.
That someone in such a distant country as Kyrgyzstan could come to love this Japanese song made me genuinely happy, and I felt sincerely glad to have been born in Japan.
With an ice cream in hand, weird Japanese stories
Elina and the boy were talking so happily that I accepted Elina's invitation to go to a small shop outside to buy ice cream.
We bought something like a watermelon bar and something like 'Aisu no Mi' (Japanese fruit-flavored ice), and ate them together outside. Elina showed me things she liked about Japan and some funny videos.
They were weird anime clips or something, and we laughed out loud.
To buy ingredients for fried rice
When we returned to the hostel, it was raining and the BBQ was canceled. Instead, there was talk of making Japanese food. Omelette rice and fried rice were suggested, and we ultimately decided on fried rice.
What surprised me was that among the members there were two JLPT N5s and even one N3. Everyone loved Japan. I suggested ingredients, and the three of us—Roma, Acel, and I—went shopping. We managed to buy the ingredients: eggs, green onions, garlic, soy sauce, chicken, and cola.
While we were walking, Acel told me about a recommended cafe and talked about his favorite Ghibli films. He said he liked 'Spirited Away' and 'Howl.'
Daniel appears with ice cream in hand
We arrived at the hostel but I was so tired I decided to rest a bit. Elina came to call me and there was talk of making fried rice. But while that was happening, everyone gathered on the third floor and started chatting, and we ended up deciding, 'We're tired today, let's do it tomorrow.'
In the end, after resting a bit in my bed and wandering around, Elina took time out of her work to go outside and talk with me. She offered to show me her university on Monday, we would have lunch at a Japanese restaurant after that, and then go to a Japanese language center.
As we were happily talking about that, Daniel came by. He had bought ice cream. He was the person who had made onigiri with us the day before. We had said 'Nice to meet you' and were on speaking terms, but we hadn't really talked much. He brought ice cream for me, for Elina, and for himself, plus cola and cups. I thought, how amazing. He was so friendly and open. He always had a smile and was truly innocent.
His life exchanged in Russian
He opened an RC Cola and poured it for us. I ate milk-flavored ice cream, he had watermelon, and Elina had melon ice cream. It was the second bottle today (laughs). While eating ice cream, we talked about various things in Russian.
After Elina returned to work, I filmed our conversation while diving into talk with him in Russian. He said he worked in Moscow for two years after graduating high school, then worked in Krasnoyarsk, returned to Kyrgyzstan, and is now a university student. He studied Korean and tourism at an institute in Korea, and apparently will have Japanese classes soon, which he's really looking forward to. He likes the film 'Beautiful Days' and keeps saying an actor's line 'Next time is next time, now is now' (laughs). He currently lives in this hostel, and his family home is in a rural town. We talked about many such things.
Before I knew it, I realized I had become able to converse in Russian to some extent with anyone. My grammar is a mess and I certainly can't speak freely. Still, I can communicate with people normally, and I'm proud of that.
At the end we exchanged Instagram handles and became friends. He then returned to the hostel. He was very friendly and it was really fun. He was reportedly really moved because I was the first Japanese person he'd had a proper conversation with. Hearing that moved me too. I was very happy.
A hostel like family
After that we went back to talking about TENGA and got excited discussing whether Kyrgyz people are conservative or open.
After returning to the hostel, we decided to watch a movie, and I watched it with Liza and Acel. Elina joined us too. But the movie was just playing in the background; I mostly lay down and chatted with Elina and Matt. Since she knew Japanese words like 'pervert' and 'lecher,' Elina laughed out loud saying, 'You're a pervert.' I thought they were really friendly.
I had thought Kyrgyz people might be more conservative, but in reality everyone was open, very physically close, and lots of them were friendly. Physical touch and light pats are normal, and you can really make friends easily. Just like with Elina today—we became friends after talking for an hour.
Because it's so easy to make friends here, you can live more humanly. Being in this hostel makes me feel very true to myself and peaceful. In my life so far, I've never been in such a slow place with the same community, the same members every day, like a family. The reception staff treat you exactly the same as the other members. Everyone's friends.
Having the same fixed members, young and open reception staff, and relatively low stress—I think this atmosphere only forms when those conditions come together. Kyrgyzstan, especially because it has few man-made things, might be an environment where you can live more humanly. After all, environment matters. Where you place yourself—this is the most important thing in shaping a life, I thought.
At night, while writing in my diary, I talked with Elina about her university assignments and the strange Japanese music she likes. We also talked about what kind of food we'd want to eat on Monday. Being able to have such pure conversations somehow warmed my heart.
