Difficult meeting
This is the plain transcript. Open the interactive version → furigana, audio, word-by-word gloss, grammar notes, and take over a role by typing.Jo arrives at Higashi Bank's office building for a project meeting. The receptionist greets him warmly.
こんにちは。ユナイテッド・バンクのフォーサイスです。チーム・バンダイの会議に参りました。村上部長とお約束しております。
Hello. I'm Forsyth from United Bank. I came for the Team Bandai meeting. I'm meeting Murakami-san.
フォーサイスさん、お待ちしておりました。皆さんはもう四階の会議室にいらっしゃいます。エレベーターはあちらです。
Mr Forsyth, we've been expecting you. Everyone is already in the conference room on the 4th floor. The elevator is over there.
Jo walks into the meeting room. Suzuki spots him and stands up with a big grin. The team turns to look.
こんにちは、皆さん。あああ！鈴木さん！おひさしぶり。
Hello everyone. Aaah! Suzuki! Long time no see.
おお、ジョー！久しぶり！元気だった？去年の大阪以来だよね。みんな、こちらがジョーさん。家族みたいなもんだよ。
Oh, Jo! Long time! How've you been? Since Osaka last year, right? Everyone, this is Jo. He's practically family.
Kinoshita, a younger team member, starts explaining how transactions will be processed. It sounds promising but untested.
いい考えだね！でも…どうかな。それ、やったことある？
Good idea! But... I wonder. Have you done that before?
まだ実際にはやったことないです。でも、テストでは問題なかったんですよ。
We haven't actually done it yet. But there were no problems in testing.
Jo raises a concern about patent risk. The room listens carefully.
計画はあまり難しくない、アメリカ・バンクのパテントは問題があるけど。それは面倒なことになるかも…
The plan isn't too difficult, but the American bank's patent could be a problem. That could be troublesome...
特許の問題か…それは確かにめんどくさいね。回避できる可能性はある？
A patent issue... yeah, that is a pain. Is there a possibility of working around it?
それはたくさんお金がかかる、と思う。えとあまり時間がない…
That'll cost a lot of money, I think. And there isn't much time...
率直に言うとね。今のタイミングで新しいことをやる余裕が正直ないんだ。予算も厳しいし、チームも手一杯なんだよ。来期なら検討できるかもしれないけど…今すぐは、ちょっと…
Let me be frank. We honestly don't have capacity to do something new right now. Budget is tight, team is stretched. Next quarter, perhaps we could revisit it.
わかりました。じゃあ、うちからは来月、五人出せます。ただ、そちらから窓口を一人お願いしたいんです。テストの調整をしてもらう形で。ここだけの話ですが、その技術に詳しいエンジニアはいますか？
Understood. Then — from our side we can put five people on it from next month. But we'd need one of your team as the point of contact, to coordinate the testing. Between us, is there an engineer who knows that tech well?
ああ、そちらから人を出してもらえるなら、話は別だ。窓口は木下にやらせよう。十一月にそちらのチームが来られるなら、その時に顔合わせだな。
Ah — if United is putting people in, that's a different conversation. Kinoshita can be your contact. If your team comes over in November, we'll do the introductions then.
The meeting concludes well. In the hallway, Suzuki throws an arm around Jo's shoulder.
鈴木さん、どう思う？
What do you think, Suzuki?
だいたい合意できたよ。細かい話は午後でいい。よし、飯行こう。立ち食い寿司の店があるんだ、めちゃくちゃうまいよ。木下も来るだろ？
Pretty much aligned. We can sort the details this afternoon. Right — lunch. There's a standing sushi place, ridiculously good. You're coming, right?
The standing sushi is fast and excellent. Crowded but no waiting. Jo's got a free day tomorrow and asks Suzuki for ideas.
明日休みだけど、京都から遠くないところでどこか行けると思う？
Tomorrow's a day off. Somewhere not far from Kyoto — where do you think I could go?
この週末？ジョー、直島は知ってる？ここからそんなに遠くないよ。
This weekend? Jo, do you know Naoshima? It's not that far from here.
Jo doesn't know Naoshima. Suzuki can't believe it.
知らない。どんなところ？
Don't know it. What kind of place is it?
マジで？知らないの？島全体がアートなんだよ。歩いてたら、急に…かぼちゃ！美術館も彫刻もそこらじゅうにあるよ。
Seriously? You don't know it? The whole island is art. Like you walk around and suddenly - a pumpkin! There are museums and sculptures everywhere.
行こうかな。どうやって行くの？
Maybe I'll go. How do you get there?
まず京都から新幹線で岡山まで。のぞみで一時間くらい。そこから宇野線で宇野港まで出て、フェリーで二十分。地中美術館だけは先にネットで取っておけ。当日だと入れないことがあるから。あと、泊まるなら民宿のほうが雰囲気あるよ。
First, shinkansen from Kyoto to Okayama — about an hour on the Nozomi. Then the Uno line out to Uno Port, and a twenty-minute ferry. Book the Chichu Museum online beforehand — turn up on the day and you sometimes can't get in. And stay at a minshuku, it's got far more atmosphere.