Notable says kampai

It is invariably a notable person who is the last to be called in front on the microphone and make a final speech before asking the attendance of that get-together in Tokyo to raise their glasses and say kampai! The notable, of a notable age, is allowed to blunder and does it with a faked ingenuity. This one is a big brass of a big local IT company. He hardly can't hide his lack of understanding of the venue he has been invited to sponsor. He blunders so much that the elderly man standing besides me dares and utter something like "will he put a sock in it?" with a grin on my direction as if we had known each other. I love these fleeting moments of connivence. You can feel people starting itching with these never ending sentences oozing of meaninglessness. The interpreter is a pro. She knows how to interpret meaninglessness. When the notable is over and does not hides he has lost the direction of his speech or mind, and that it is time to raise glasses, a mute sense of general relief can be felt. Like yawning, it spreads and ricochets from one attendee to another at light speed. The notable is an invariable ingredient to such Japanese hoopla. And the speech incompetence is endemic. But respect is due where matchmaking power is, and the organizers at the end of the hoopla deeply bow to the honorable notable who bows and smile like a child while leaving the place, that big white and red ribbon flower still sticked on the lapel. I am sure he is getting money he is absolutely in no need just to play his notable role.

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