That’s Mike’s plate of food, not mine, remember I don’t eat raw fish. A bunch of us had some sushi, sake and Kirin beer at Izakaya Kai restaurant in Kona town. Mike went for a sashimi plate and some miso soup.
I couldn’t get Brian to say “Kirin” properly as it’s tough if you haven’t had your ear used to many Japanese words. That ‘R’ is a very subtle ‘R’ sound to it, most folks hear it as an ‘L’ as in the movie Lost in Translation where Scarlett Johansson’s character asks, why do the Japanese mix-up the Rs and Ls? Not sure if Brian orders Flied Lice when ordering food. Think of the same ‘R’ sound in Suntory during the Suntory Whiskey commercial scene which is pretty hilarious.
The camera brand Nikon (Knee-Kohn) gets Americanized to Nigh-Kohn by many folks, I’m sure having Simon and Garfunkel singing Nigh-Kohn in the song Kodachrome hasn’t helped nor has the commericals that have given up and just pronouce it the wrong way.
But don’t feel bad, when I was on the mainland at an AAJA convention even our mainland Asian-American journalist friends couldn’t pronounce Asian surnames properly, it was funny watching our Hawaii based group of journalists cringe during introductions for keynote speakers.