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'm here for the Team Bandai meeting. I have an appointment with 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 fourth 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. Oh! 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 no see! 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 don't know. Have you ever 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 an issue. That could get complicated...
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 any way to work 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…
I think that would cost a lot of money. And we don't have 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 the capacity to do something new right now. The budget is tight, and the team is stretched thin. Maybe we could look into it next quarter, but right now, it's just not possible.
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. In that case, we can assign five people from our side starting next month. But we would need someone on your end to act as a point of contact to coordinate the testing. Just between us, is there an engineer who knows that technology 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 you're providing the people, that's a different story. We'll have Kinoshita be your contact. If your team can come over in November, we can 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？
We've pretty much got an agreement. We can sort out the details this afternoon. Right, let's get some lunch. There's a standing sushi place nearby that's ridiculously good. Kinoshita, you're coming too, 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？
I have tomorrow off. Is there somewhere not too far from Kyoto 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, have you heard of 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？
No, I haven't. 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've never heard of it? The whole island is dedicated to art. You'll be walking around and suddenly—boom, a giant 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, take the Shinkansen from Kyoto to Okayama—it's about an hour on the Nozomi. Then take the Uno Line to Uno Port, and it's a twenty-minute ferry ride from there. Make sure to book the Chichu Art Museum online beforehand, because if you just show up on the day, you might not get in. Also, if you're staying overnight, a minshuku has a much better atmosphere.