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Anyone who has watched even a handful of episodes of Japanese anime will have heard the words “suki” or “daisuki” at some point. Literally meaning “like” and “like very much” (daisuki is, after all, written with the characters 大 “big” and 好き “like”), these two words are used not just when describing one’s preference for a particular pokémon or pizza topping, but when declaring deep, “more-than-friends” feelings for someone.

It would seem, however, that staff at Japanese fast food chain Yoshinoya have recently been unwittingly handing declarations of love to especially peckish patrons following the arrival of a popular seasonal dish, with these handwritten love letters becoming the subject of great amusement online.

A sukiyaki dish, which is served atop a special stove all of its own just like at pricier restaurants, is currently available at Yoshinoya in either regular (並 nami) or large (大盛 oomori) size, as a set or on its own. We have to say that even for what is essentially a hangout for salarymen and people terrified of their own kitchens, Yoshinoya’s dish looks quite good, and nothing warms you up quite like a big bowl of beef, veggies and rice on a cold day.

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It would seem, however, that the chain’s busy staff have taken to using a certain shorthand when writing this dish’s name on customers’ order forms, referring to it simply as suki, the first half of sukiyaki, which, for the record, is pronounced closer to “ski yaki” than “sooki yaki”. You can probably see where this is going.

Twitter user Fukudome then noticed that when ordering a large serving of this hearty-looking winter dish, servers would record the order simply as 大すき, which although short for a “big 大” serving of sukiyaki “すき焼き”, can also be read daisuki, or since Japanese often drop pronouns altogether in certain contexts, “I really like you.”

This Fukudome just had to share with the world:

▼ “How to get a confession of love before Christmas [which is considered a couples’ holiday in Japan]:

Go to Yoshinoya.
Order a large bowl of sukiyaki.
Get confession.
Job done!”

Job done indeed! It must be nice to look at your bill and see a declaration of love written in much the same way that some anime character, unable to say the actual words, might scribble their message on a scrap of paper and then thrust it into the hands of the object of their affections.

Sadly, though, it seems that it’s not always so easy to get a little romance with your beef and rice. Fellow Twitter user Tamincle tried the method out, but with his server opting to shorten the dish’s name even further, all he got was “大す” daisu.

▼ “I really wanted to get a ‘daisuki’ from the Yoshinoya staff. Even though I went all-out and ordered a large serving of sukiyaki, I still didn’t get it.”

Poor Tamincle. Just one syllable short of love! Never mind – perhaps your server was just too shy to write that last character.

Source: Hamster Sokuhou
Feature image: Twitter Edited by RocketNews24
Insert image: Yoshinoya