I went with Jose to a Japanese restaurant in NYC five months ago where they served our sake inside of a glass cube that was inside of a ceramic bowl with the cube filled to the brim. Neither of us had any idea how to consume it, so we ended up drinking out of the cube, spilling it into the bowl, and then picking up the bowl and drinking it. Drinking sake out of a cube became an idiom between us that meant something elaborate and baffling that probably made no sense.

I’m in Tokyo a few days ago, having dinner with a lawyer friend of mine at this soba noodles joint, when I look over and see that the waitress has set down a ceramic bowl with a small glass inside of it. Then the waitress filled the glass to the brim with some overflowing into the bowl. I had this flashback. I said, hold on, why’d she do that? My friend explained that the pour meant to show generosity and abundance. The insant she said that, the whole drinking apparatus made sense to me, and I had an appreciation for the moment and its significance.