Mad Thirsty

Sayako's Story

"A Relationship without Words" in Los Angeles

This is a first of three part series of Sayako, a very unique relationship in my life . She is a girl from Japan, we weren’t able to communicate w/ words really, as her English is very basic . For some reason I took it upon myself to give her the best time in LA possible despite that . This post is different for many reasons . The first one being I am mostly using cellphone photos and not much film, I was too shy to ask to take film photos nor was it possible due to the language barrier . Two, I normally I scan my journal entries but I am writing this in a perspective of looking back on it, instead of being in the day by day moment . Please enjoy 6 days of Sayako, a relationship somewhere between friendship and romance, a relationship lost in translation Xx

Prologue -----

It’s July 2023 . I have more free time since my work is slower than usual because of Summer . One day after playing video games I found myself bored on the couch . I downloaded a dating app, just to see what was out there and maybe to look for validation . I do this once or twice a year and rarely have any intention of actually meeting up, it’s more just for fun and to occupy myself for 30 min or so . I land on one of those vague profiles of an Asian girl, w/ only two or three photos . I think there was text in her bio about her visiting for two weeks . We matched, I completely forgot what we said to each other but it was short . I asked her who she was here w/ and why was she here ? She communicated to me that she didn’t speak much English, she was alone, and that she just wanted to see America .

I thought to myself, “Wow, that is fucking brave” . Well this next month for me is pretty open, so maybe I can show her a nice day and give us both a sweet PG-13 memory . What do you do w/ someone who doesn’t speak English ?? The LACMA museum, because we don’t have to talk to each other . Perfect, let’s start there …. :)

DAY 1 ——

We meet at the front of LACMA, near the light poles in the front . We both say hello in English . She bows and I shake her hand .

“Shall we ?” I said, gesturing towards the museum . She follows .

We spent the next hour and a half walking around and looking at everything . I would use small words and make faces to show how I felt about certain pieces of art, then using google translate on our phones for longer sentences . I described to her how some of these painting were legendary, like Picasso’s “Man w/ Guitar” .

“Wowwww” she would say slowly . It was adorable .

After I felt like we saw everything I ask her if she wants to have lunch together . She nods and smiles . We walk next door to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures . It’s the museum right next door to LACMA all about movies, so I think they have much history and props and outfits about movies etc. I’m not sure because we didn’t go in the museum . I wasn’t expecting the restaurant attached to be fine dining but it was okay . It had the coolest drink menu I’d ever seen, all named after movies to go w/ the theme .

When the meal was winding down I ask her if she still wants to be together, “Yes !” She says positively . “Ok !” I smile back .

“What to do, what to do” I start to think to myself .

An easy cheat code for a fun eventful activity w/ not much talking is to take someone to the Santa Monica pier, because you can ride rides and play in the arcade and just look and people and walk . So I took her there . She had a ball, she was smiling the whole time . The first time we ever even touched each other was at the fair when she would grab my arm to steer me if someone was about to bump into me, I would do the same but on her shoulder . We got on the ferris wheel and the view was amazing at night, she kept saying, "Oh my god" in English .

She was taking photos of everything, like an Asian tourist would do . She was enjoying herself, and that made me happy . When it got late I drove her home to her Airbnb in Santa Monica . When we arrived she said, “thank you for today, goodbye” and she shook my hand . She shook my fucking hand ! So innocent :)

DAY 2 ——

Every time we have plans it starts w/ the same thought, “what to do, what to do ?” I heard about a two day event that Hermes is doing by the Santa Monica Airport . It’s a sort of performance art exhibit performance art that they are putting on . Well that would be perfect, and I’m sure she would be impressed very much . I mean, she gets to come to LA, and a kind, cool model boy (yes I sadly just described myself like that) takes her to an Hermes event ? You gotta admit that’s pretty awesome . There is one problem, I have emailed them and they said the guest list is closed . Now, is this just for cool people ? Connected people ? Buyers ? Unfortunately I am not any of those… so how do I pull this ?

I send them a fucking email w/ pictures of me walking in their show, not just walking, opening ! That should do it ;) and it did ! It worked, they opened up a slot for me and I Invited Sayako on our second time together .

We arrive to a giant production, they provided food and drinks and it was all so well done . There was 6 or 7 mini performances, where they would film what was happening live in a little show using props or tricks, then show the footage big right above the performance . It was new and it was sophisticated and it was totally Hermes, just lovely .

In this clip I ask Sayako, “Very nice ?”
“Very nice” she replies back w/ a gently smile . Hey, if she’s happy, I’m happy :)

After I take her to Little Tokyo, a place we can both enjoy, since she’s from Japan of course . We first go out to lunch, now this is where the language barrier becomes punishing . I wouldn’t recommend you eat food out at lunches and dinner places to be honest, because there is only so many times you can ask the person, “So… how is your food ?” . Without an activity or something to do besides just eating and looking at each other it can get dull fast .

After we walk around and find a tree w/ notes left all over, I ask her to read some, and I laugh and laugh as I listen to her accent . We walk some more and she finds an authentic Japanese Photo Booth to take pictures in, all the pictures make you look small and attractive . She starts to customize them w/ phrases like “Love Me” and “Together Forever” but I know she has no idea what it means .

After I take her to my house for the first time and we show each other Japanese songs on Youtube. I am trying to impress her with/ my knowledge of obscure and vintage bands and songs from the 90’s and 80’s, a form of music that is actually getting popular in America recently . “Tokyo City Pop Music” they call it . She plays me mostly ballads and slow songs from an artist called, “Hikaru Utada” . It was a perfect soft ending to a lovely day, she called an uber, I walked her downstairs, kissed her on the cheek and watched her go .

DAY 3 ———

A couple days after the Hermes Event I invited her over to cook dinner for her and watch a movie, now I’m thinking, “what to watch, what to watch” . I thought I found the perfect film, titled, “Drive my Car” . It was Japanese and won the Oscar for best foreign film, the reviews on rotten tomatoes and Meta Critic were huge . I made a beef and rice dish and we started to watch this 3 hour movie .

Wow, did I make a wrong choice :/ The movie wasn’t just slow, it was slow at a snails pace . About an hour and a half in I look over to her and she gives me a face that is not pleasant . I write on google translate, “let’s go get some ice cream” to inject some fun in the evening .

We ride together on a scooter that my friend left at my house, she was laughing the whole way holding on the handle bars . The bike was called “Unagi” which means Eel in Japanese, she loved that . We returned to watch the movie for 20 minutes before we both gave up on it .

I actually ended up watching a movie from this director in the future called, “evil does not exist” and it was kind’ve the same . The way he directs is extremely slow but he is creating something, then at the end a dramatic ending happens that is philosophical almost and ties everything together . I have to admit I had to google the ending to really understand it, it’s very high brow .

This night wasn’t the best unfortunately, for the first time I felt like i failed to entertain her properly . But we managed to make the best of it .

DAY 4 ———

Sayako texts me that she wants to go to this specific place in Korea town to eat - an all you can eat place .

“Sure, come to mine after I get off of work and I’ll drive us . Why don’t you take me out tonight ?” I ask . I was taking care of everything obviously the whole trip, which I wanted . But since she brought this place up I asked her to take me out for once :) She agreed . It was amazing, when the bill came it over 140$ I think, just to be polite I asked her if she needed any help w/ it .

She typed, “Well if you want to yes you can pay for it”

God Dammit . That was the only moment where we were lost in translation, I offered to help if it was too much, not to pay for everything . Fuck it, too awkward to not do it now . So I paid our bill and went back to mine .

I made popcorn from kernels on the stove and she filmed the entire thing and laughed, “I’ve never seen someone make popcorn like that” she typed in googled translate . I put on Seinfeld but w/ Japanese Audio and English subtitles, I had no idea that Netflix has shows that are dubbed in every major language, so cool . We watched two episodes and she laughed and laughed .

Then I pulled out a secret movie / secret weapon, “Shall we Dance” from 1996, a perfect 5/5 movie, and from Japan ! No one else knows this movie, I only know it because my dad showed it to me when I was younger . “She’s going to love this” I thought .

“Did you like the movie ?” I asked .

“I loved it, I have never heard of this movie before, how do you know this ?” She typed . That made me happy .

Day 5 ———

She wants to come over, she is leaving on Wednesday and it is Saturday .

I type to her, “I would love to see you Sayako, but today is a big day for sports, there is a big UFC event and also a boxing event so I will be watching on my computer and TV all afternoon and evening”

She texts me 3 min later, “Can I sit next to you and watch Korean TV Drama on my laptop, I won’t make much noise”

I couldn’t help but smile, she is so lovely and I cannot believe she asked me that . It’s so rewarding to see her become more open and less shy over the time, I am literally watching her open up in real time, every time we hang out she is shedding another wall . I mean, the first time we hung out it was so stiff it even ended in a handshake . I of course agree and she comes over .

When she arrives she asks me if this text message exchange between her and her Uber driver was normal, I ask for her to show me . I was completely disgusted . A cute shy Japanese girl can’t even take an Uber without a fat, ugly, Armenian driver trying to fuck her in LA . No decorum at all . Pressuring a non English speaking shy girl to go to the beach w/ you and drink even while she is deflecting made me furious . I spend the moments between the fights I’m watching to report him to Uber, I even got on a call w/ them . I’m not sure if he was fired, but I know he was at least suspended for a week . That should teach him . So disappointing that I have to be in a position to protect her, but seeing her watch her laptop on the edge of my couch w/ her little headphones on, I think to myself, how could I not ? :)

I watch fights for literally 5+ hours w/ her next to me . I ask her to play some basketball w/ me on my rooftop court for fun to get out of the house, we shoot hoops and she misses horribly over and over again . We end up back at mine and I show her an episode of “Cowboy Bebop” . She was getting closer and closer to me on the couch as we were laying down .

“Do you want to kiss me ?” I say audibly while pointing to my lips w/ my pointer finger quickly .

In a shy manner, she replies, “Yes” .

That was our first kiss, totally innocent, and absolutely adorable .

It’s getting late, she calls her uber, I walk her down and kiss her on the lips once more and I say goodbye .

“what an interesting thing this has turned into” I thought to myself as she drove away .

Day 6 ———

Our last day . She’s in Venice and I’m in downtown, I tell her, “Let’s go out shopping, meet me in the middle of the both of us, in West Hollywood, at Wasteland” . I arrive and she’s in the store, I put my hands on her shoulders and tell her to shop the specific racks that have the designer clothes for discount . I buy a sweater and she buys some things as well, she was so excited .

Again I think, “what to do, what to do ?” I know . EP-LP . A rooftop bar w/ food, she will love it, some people, nice music, and a last day Los Angeles sunset view . We talk and talk through the phone, then I ask if I may sit next to her, she agrees . Now we sit in silence for a bit . This may be the last time I’ll ever see her . We only have 3 or 4 hours left .

The mood was dampening, there’s always the heaviness of the last day energy that saddens everything . I didn’t want that.

“Let’s go to the arcade and drink” I suggested .

“Really ?” - “Yes really” I shot back .

So there we went, playing all those silly activity games like racing / shooting / basketball . We earned enough tickets for a sticky hand on a string that can stretch and smack a surface and stick to it, I kept walking around the mall afterwards and would hit everything w/ it and she would laugh and laugh .

It’s now nighttime but I offer her a ride home but she insists on coming back to mine . We arrive back at mine, I tell her I need to use the restroom but instead I put on a stupid wig to make her giggle, she sees it and loses it . It’s like an 80’s hair metal wig and the only purpose I have for it is just to be random and get a cheap laugh from it . She puts it on and says, “This is American hair” and I start to laugh just as hard .

The night is coming to end and she says she has a gift for me . It is a letter, I open it up and see that she wrote a whole letter in English, which means she stared at google translate and carefully copied all of the letters by hand so I can have something physical . I was in disbelief, I cannot believe she wrote this . I read it, it was so sweet and sincere, and I started to tear up a little bit . She filmed it and I didn’t mind . I think my reaction brought something out in her, and she started to cry as well . I will never forget that, she was on the bed in a spooning position by herself, and sniffling every 3 seconds, and every timed she sniffed, her body would shake, like a puppy dog . It was such a lovely moment, and it is burned into my memory . All 6 days of seeing each other, everything had led up to this moment . To have a relationship somewhere between friendship and romance, something really sweet in the middle .

After we stop being so emotional I gesture that it’s midnight, and that I’m going to bed .

“No !” She said in her Japanese accent, 3 or 4 times again .

“What do you mean, no ?” I say while laughing .

“I’m going to stay the night” she typed out in her phone .

And after I read it I looked up at her, without me even replying yet she says out loud, “T-Shirt ?” . Motioning me to get her a t-shirt for her to sleep in . So I do . We fall asleep shortly and in the morning we get coffee and say goodbye . One last kiss on the lips and off she goes . Wondering if I would ever see her again <3

My intention w/ Sayako was to reward her bravery, for coming out here alone looking for a PURE-lovely time . That’s what I wanted when I was shy and alone going to the Philippines when I was 25, and I got all of that, I was lucky . So I wanted to do it for her, I wanted to blow her mind, I wanted her to think, “What is going on ? Why he is doing all of this ?” . Because there should be more of that . More of unexpected awesome and lovely experiences . Where the guy isn’t always trying to have sex . Where she will go home and tell her girlfriends, “You would not believe what happened !” Type of thing . Maybe I’m over estimating myself, but more importantly, I just wanted her to have a nice time . Because she made me have a great time while I was w/ her . And I will never forget that time in LA together .

Luckily , I would see her again this same year, all the way in Bali ;) The next 11 posts will be the Bali trip, stay tuned for that :)