Maybe later

Ryokan often exchanged poetry with friends and family. His brother, Yoshiyuki, once expressed concern after hearing that Ryokan played marbles with the brothel girls:

Yoshiyuki:

The black robed monk
Sports with
Pleasure girls --
What can be
In his heart?

Ryokan:

Sporting and sporting,
As I pass through this floating world:
Finding myself here,
Is it not good
To dispel the bad dreams of others?

Yoshiyuki:

Sporting and sporting
While passing through this world
Is good, perhaps,
But don't you think of
The world to come?

Ryokan:

It is in this world,
With this body
That I sport:
No need to think
About the world to come.

Ryokan's compassion and lack of "spiritual materialism" have to be appreciated here. His brother, I assume, was getting at the fact that precepts for Buddhist monastics typically include vows of celibacy and may include prohibitions against touching women at all, even mothers or sisters. What about the afterlife? No need to think about that.

That's background.

While in Nagaoka, and in other parts of Japan, I had some difficulty eating or, I should say, specifying what I wanted to eat. Often I would walk up and down streets looking for restaurants that (a) had menus posted and (b) included pictures on their menus. At least that way I could point to something and use a Japanese phrase or two I had learned to get things to turn out sort of right.

One night, then, while walking and looking, I noticed a secondary street I hadn't tried before, so I took it. It looked pretty much like any of the other streets, with restaurant names in lights and well-dressed people walking up and down it and looking around. Sometimes hosts will be standing just outside the door to bring in customers, so I didn't think much about it when one said something to me in broken English and asked if I was American.

I said yeah, and he asked me a few things about traveling. He then said something about girls and that it was just 3500 yen for one hour. As I was reflecting and looking back at the sign in front of his business, a gentleman in an expensive suit walked out and the host thanked him. What was just 3500 yen for one hour?

Marbles? Or something more? I've asked a couple of Japanese and have received varied opinions, and I have my own. In any event, the host made his vague offer again as I stood there. How can one respond to such a question? How did I?

"Maybe later," I smiled and said, and I walked off looking for a restaurant.

No, I didn't play marbles in Japan.