“Why don’t you come to my new house?” One day a friend of mine M emailed me. Her house has been reconstructed recently. She invited her friends including me and had a potluck party at her brand-new house on October15th. It was Thursday. I usually take an English class at a university on Thursdays, but that day was a school holiday because of its anniversary of establishment.

     Another friend K drove me with other two of our friends that morning. We caught in a traffic jam on the way to M’s house. The road isn’t usually so busy. So, we thought that there was an accident or something ahead. Some police officers and men in the same yellow-colored jackets came into view in a matter of time. They blocked one lane and asked each driver to open their windows. An inspection? We wondered if there was an affair.

     “Hey! There’re five people in this car!” One of men in the yellow jacket shouted to other men, looking into our car, when K opened the window. He received something from his company and thrust them to K, saying “Drive carefully and have a nice day!”

     What happened? What he gave us were five paper bags. One of us opened one immediately and shouted, “There’s a pear inside!” There’re words on the bags: “No traffic accident!” in Japanese. Pear is called nashi in Japanese. There’s another word which has the same sound in Japanese. It means no or nothing. The police and the men appealed road safety using an equivoque. We had mixed feelings at that time: anger for the traffic jam because of the campaign and pleasure for getting fruits for free. 

     M’s house is in Chiryu. She welcomed us with a big smile when we got there. After a while other friends arrived gradually and a dozen people gathered finally. Each person brought something to eat. That was a great feast! Sushi, rice noodles, quiche, lasagna, tacos, many kinds of salads, cooked vegetables, fried chickens, hamburgers, fruits, lots of cake! Wow! Multinational foods! We enjoyed ourselves chattering and having delicious food. I had a great time together with my good friends!