“Language.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Eh, language? Learn?”
“You want to learn Japanese?”
“Eh, yes.”

A sketchy-looking Russian man stopped Alan and me while I was picking him up from the train station.

“Are you needing a translator? Or do you want to learn Japanese?”
“Eh, my ship, I want make more money. Eh, Japanese.”

There are quite a few Russian sailors in Japan, especially in the port cities (and Sendai is a fairly large port city). In some places I’ve seen (like in Otaru), signs appear only in Japanese and Russian - not Japanese and English. I hadn’t met any Russian sailors, but it didn’t surprise me to see one.

“I’m not exactly sure where you can learn Japanese.”
“Girls.”
“Excuse me?”
“Alcohol. I want meet girls.”

I point towards 国分町 (Kokubunchou), the big night-life scene. He thanks us and is on his way. Crazy Russians.