As was the tradition in many Japanese companies, every year the whole staff took a trip somewhere to bond and relax. I was new that year and also a foreigner, so quite the oddity amongst a sea of Japanese men and women. Everyone was polite, some a bit wary, others quite interested to meet the new "gaijin".
On day one of our trip to Sapporo, and after the organized activities, I snuck away to visit the famous rose garden perched above the city mostly to clear my head. I needed a little time to decompress from all the forced bonding and ritualized fun. Sitting on a bench I enjoyed the view and the sun hitting my face with my eyes closed. In a minute, I could sense that another person had joined me on the bench so I opened my eyes.
It was Yuriko, one of the newest office lady recruits to my company who worked in a department next to mine. We weren't really acquainted but did know each other by face and name.
Yuriko was slender of build, with nice B-cup breasts, narrow waist, and small round bottom. Her face was narrow rather than round with dark expressive eyes, a small nose and pouty lips. I would describe her as cute rather than beautiful. She wasn't fashionable but she was confident, outgoing and friendly.
Yuriko told me she was happy to see me and hoped that I wasn't being disturbed by her presence. I pretended not to care although I was slightly miffed that of all the places in the city no where was safe from a colleague showing up.
Yuriko was a bubble friendly girl not much beyond 18 years old having passed on college and gone straight into a clerical job. I was in my early 30s a lower level manager responsible for new product design for the US market.
After a brief silence, Yuriko asked about my life in Japan, what I enjoyed, and whether I had a girlfriend. I told her the truth that I was a little lonely because my serious girlfriend of three years was back in the States.
Seeing no contradiction in her reply, Yuriko mentioned I should just get myself a Japanese girlfriend while I'm in Japan. Implying that what my girlfriend didn't know wouldn't harm her. I didn't really know what to say except keep quiet and do the muttering thing that works so well in Japanese.
Yuriko it turned out came from Sapporo and was homesick when back at the home office. She was looking for a friend and next thing I knew I was being invited back to her family's small house on the edge of the city - quite an unusual thing to do in Japan but then I was starting to figure out that Yuriko was not the typical Japanese girl.
Her parents were quite surprised to be introduced to a tall foreign man who spoke excellent Japanese and knew how to follow all the typical customs. But being Japanese they took it all in stride. Politely they peppered me with questions to which I replied as best I could. I could almost feel Yuirko's mother sizing me up as a mate for her daughter.