the hard lesson

Let me put up an blog post in English this time.

I have some friends living overseas, and I occasionally send them a care package.

It's not that they can't get anything Japanese there, but things are overpriced.

Besides, it's always nice to get something from home!

So I recently sent a package to my good friend in the U.S.

She's raising three children and doesn't have time for herself, not to mention that buying Japanese food for a big family is expensive.

I packed something small for her kids, but other things were mainly for my friend.

Some books to read, a magazine to flip through, a bag of Japanese-style chocolate snack.

Things she could get over there, but wouldn't for sure.

But I was too dumb that I had totally forgotten about the quarantine inspection on food coming into the U.S. 

It has become much stricter.

Any food containing "meat" or even "extract from meat" will be confiscated.

Can you guess what was taken away from the package I sent from Japan?

Some food that almost all Japanese people like.

They took all three boxes of curry sauce blocks from the package.

The curry sauce blocks contain beef extract.

I have sent Japanese curry to the U.S. in the past, and not even once had it been taken away.

Gee, I learned my lesson in the hard way.

The officers can recognize the Kanji 肉！