Cast of Characters

As Okashi developed and new people became part of my adventures, I found it necessary to start using fictional names for my new friends. It is pretty hard to remain anonymous these days when so much of our lives are conducted online, but I wanted to try and protect my friends' privacy as much as possible.  I also wanted to use some of the Japanese I picked and my extensive anime knowledge.  Character names were chosen based on purely personal criteria.  It might be a personality trait, a physical trait, or a Japanese word that replaces an English one.  Maybe they just like the anime character I named them after.   I have given a little background on the reasoning, but mostly this page is just so readers can figure out who exactly I am talking about.  These characters show up often and I don't want to have to stop to place them in each post.  

Cast of Characters

Okasan - Japanese word for mother.  While not the most creative, this is the name I am using for my mom in this blog.

Otosan - Japanese word for father.  See reason for Okasan.

Anata - Japanese word for you, but used by women to address their spouses. Think of it as darling or dear. It is the name I use for my husband for this blog.

Otose - My landlady. This is the name of the landlady character in one of my favorite animes, Gintama. Now I am calling my landlady Otose not because she is anything like the character. Except in her overwhelming kindness and overall standing in our community. Okay, so maybe she is a bit like the Gintama character. But she does not sound like a fifty year smoker and I have never heard her yell.

Ojiichan - Japanese word for grandfather or old men you are familiar with. Chan is a friendly honorific usually used for those younger than you, but for grandparents it is used instead of -san in most cases. Since I have met a lot of wonderful old men, I will just call them all ojiichan.

Ling - My American friend who lived across town from me in Wakayama. We went on many, many crazy adventures. This name comes from one of my favorite anime, Fullmetal Alchemist. Ling is a prince from a foreign country who comes in search of the Philosopher's stone (the same thing the main hero is searching for). He is kind of goofy and always hungry, but is a total boss when needed. In the anime, he is even able to conquer Greed! My friend was one of the most knowledgeable foodies I have ever known (maybe even more than Anata), and most of our adventures revolved around food. Also, he is a pretty BMF when he wants to be. So, Ling seemed like the perfect alias.

So those are some of the people you will see popping up from time to time. You will also see more Japanese words. I will try and use my awesome writing skills to make their meaning clear from the context clues. That's all for now. Happy reading!