Mabuta # 11
Kanoma's notes in parenthesis ( )
Translator's notes in brackets [ ]
11th installment
Gluttony! Banzai
A meal of oroshi katsu and chinese chilled noodles right in front of me. This has got to be for two people ..... One late night at around 2:30 AM, I couldn't withstand how hungry I was and so I left my house. But in the area where I live, simple and quick places to eat at aren't open so late at night. My choices were pretty limited: should I go to the izakaya in front of the station, should I go to a family restaurant, or should I go to a conbini? First off, I dropped in to the conbini, but found no food that really attracted my attention. And because I have this thing against going to an izakaya by myself, I decided it'd have to be the family restaurant. I'm pretty indecisive, and everything usually looks delicious, so deciding on what to order is a worry. Well what I wrote about above is what I went with. But once I started eating, I ate all of my food easily.
That was when I thought, ' I've got to be a glutton. '
I really like people who eat a lot. If a person is eating a lot right in front of me, I start to feel a little happy. I'll tell you now, it's not like a feeling of friendship or anything. This is something to do with both males and females, but still the meaning of ' to like ' will come off a little differently. People normally urge males to eat a lot. Fatima member 4ge and I often have this certain way of eating when we go out together. If there's a volume menu there, we definitely look at it and say things like, ' There's no way you could eat all that ' just to try and urge each other on. It's all about wanting respect from the other person dependent on the amount of food. Regarding males, how fast they eat is also extremely important. It's great if someone can eat really fast. Incidentally, 4ge eats amazingly fast. I wouldn't even say ' fast ' but would rather write that he eats ' rapidly.' He would always be completely finished with his meal before everyone else in the band was even halfway done. Mizuha used to eat a large amount of food, and his speed was something to talk about as well, though now, I think his eating habits are like that of an average person. Well, not so much an average person, but more like he eats less than a normal person. I feel that a person who eats = they're healthy, and so if a person who usually likes to eat a lot sort of stops eating so much, I feel worried. And when I talk about guys who like to eat a lot, I mean that their standard order at a ramen shop might be something like: ramen + fried rice + gyouza. Of course, I eat about that much as well.
Now, I love it even more if a girl really likes to eat. It's not about embracing respect, but joking aside, it is sort of endearing to me. In this situation I feel that the word ' kuishinbou ' is better than the word ' oogui.' [ Both are translated as ' gluttony. ' Or, used in the context of someone who likes to eat a lot. ] Don't you think that ' kuishinbou ' just sounds cuter? I'll make my own distinction of the two words below:
Oogui: Every once in awhile you eat a large amount of food. Of course, it's only natural that you'll fill up on a big serving of food. Basically, you attach more importance to how much food you're eating, over the actual taste.
Kuishinbou: You love delicious food. You actually take pleasure in eating. You've tried a bit of this and that. You also show interest in what other people are eating.
I don't think it's bad if a girl is sort of oogui, but then I don't really find it endearing. However, if I see a girl who is kuishinbou I can't help but think that they're really cute. I'll give you examples that I would find extremely cute. The stars next to each example indicate the degree of cuteness, basically think of it like a tokimeki frequency.
Example 1: You always carry some sort of candy in your bag.
*
Example 2: Even though you might say you're full after a meal, you get a desert anyway.
**
Example 3: About 1~2 hours after eating, you always blurt out with "I'm hungry!"
***
Example 4: You snatch food from other people.
***
Example 5: A stock of jelly candy, yogurt and ice cream is in the refrigerator. Before you know it, my portion of the food is gone, and when I press you with where it went, you reply with, 'I'm sorry, it was so delicious and so I ate it all.'
***
'I don't know, I didn't eat it (of course a lie).'
****
'Huh? I thought it was all mine.'
*****
Sort of like that. The last answer to Example 5 fairly sums up what a kuishinbou is. I have a lot of responses for those of you who might be thinking, ' I don't get it ' or, ' Change the subject! ', but conversely, it's really not so endearing when a person doesn't eat so much....
Generally, we have this image of girls eating very small portions, but it's sort of not acceptable when a normal amount of food isn't finished. For example, if we went out to dinner and half of the food was left on her plate, I would wonder if it wasn't good, or perhaps if she hadn't been that hungry after all and would be concerned. From the standpoint of picking a place to eat, I think everyone would feel the pressure of whether or not to leave and find a different restaurant. There are people who pretend to not eat as much when they're eating in front of the opposite sex, but I find that to be completely nonsense. It wouldn't repel a guy to eat how you normally do in front of him. Well, it wouldn't repel me anyways. For people who feel nervous about eating in front of the opposite sex, wouldn't it be better to tell them that beforehand? I don't like it if people don't do that, because if they don't eat too much, it can be bad for the couple and I don't want that. I think everyone is like that. It's only eating, and if you're both so concerned with it, the relationship could get tiresome. So am I the only one who thinks that kuishinbou is better from the very start? From awhile back, these words have become quite common to hear:
' Kuishinbou! Banzai.'
Tatsumi Takurou has said it. Yamashita Shinji has also said it. Shishido Jou, and Shishido Kai have said it. Not recent, but tennis player Matsuoka Shuzo said it. So, shouldn't we feel that way? Kuishinbou ! Banzai. I'm anti-diet. It's best to forever be saying, ' I'll start my diet tomorrow .... ' Exercising is the best way to lose weight. Running, swimming, biking, basically things that you'd do in a triathlon. It's not healthy to stop eating, and so don't do that. I don't know if this is consoling to those of you who have a little bit of weight on you, but I prefer a bit of meat over someone who's too thin. Chubby cheeks are important. .............. But, if you're really unhealthy, you should probably get on a proper diet.
