Yuko is visibly upset when she comes in and sits down across from me.
“What’s the matter,” I ask.
“My friend.”
“What about your friend?
“My friend is a . . .”
“Is a what?”
“She’s a . . . Oh, I don’t know what the word is in English.”
I hand her my pocket electronic dictionary.
“My friend is a call girl.”
“Huh? A call girl?”
“Yes.”
“Your friend is a prostitute?”
“A what?”
“A prostitute is a shôfu.”
“A shufu?”
“Not shufu, a housewife. Shôfu, a prostitute.”[1]
“Shôfu? No, no, no! She’s not a shôfu! She’s a call girl.”
“Show me that dictionary,” I say. “Oh, she's a ‘coward’.”
“That’s what I said!”
[1] Shôfu (娼婦) is another word for baishun (売春) which means prostitute. Shufu (主婦) means housewife.