"Brush up on the old Japanese?"

"I can take a refresher course at Georgetown."

"Hm, you're right. Well, it's only the plane fare, really. I'll house you, food would be manageable..."

"I could live on instant noodles, right?"

"But with some pickled daikon radish and perhaps even a little seaweed."

"Yeah. Well, we'll see."

Brian was carefully noncommittal.