The first picture starts us off at the two-month anniversary of the Sannin's arrival in Japan. To celebrate we decided to out to dinner, and after wandering around Warabi for a while (reminiscent of our first night in the city), I spotted an excellent prospect: a poster that had unagi on it!!! For those that don't know, unagi is Japanese for "eel", and you can try some Americanized unagi in the little sushi packs that they sell everywhere, right next to the California, Spider, and Dragon Rolls! This is my favorite Japanese food, and for good reason. The eel isn't really fishy and the Japanese have concocted a superb sauce for it. Yoink! I highly recommend trying some at home. Don't get fooled by the name "eel" either... I mean, just take for example a cow or something. You wouldn't ever look at cow never having steak before and say "MAN that's a tasting looking animal!" Same for pigs. They're smelly and dirty, but holy crap is bacon awesome or what!?
So the unagi turned out to be my first real expensive dinner in Japan, pricing about 2,000 yen or so. Was it worth it? Well, let's see the presentation first. Looks pretty good, right? A really nice box, that is! Mystery box, mystery soup, mystery vegetables (they're ALWAYS mystery here), and mystery drink. Well, the drink is green tea. You know, 'cause I'm in Japan. Anyway, voila! There are some open boxes. Everything looks delicious, right? Well, the verdict is, it turned out to be good, but not up to expectation. The soup was delicious, and I even liked the cucumbers (pickled, that is... pickled is the mystery of vegetables that is not so mysterious in Japan). Rice was good... unagi was... par. It's possible to get boneless unagi, but I unfortunately didn't, and it took away from the flavor, which was a little hard to sense in the first place.
Funny thing about the trip, though, was that we all agreed we STILL can't perfectly order food in Japan. The menu is just full of kanji that we don't know (because I mean, there're fish names and stuff... and I'm busy learning how to read and write "meteoric belt" and "volcanic zone"... COME ON!). And yeah, it's still a problem. I mean, do you inherently know what "Unagi Yamakake" is? (whatever, Akira!)
So there went the two-month anniversary reunion thing, and on the horizon was a load of other reunions that involved my friends from USHSD 2004 (starting front left and making a U around the back back to the front, that's Yusuke, Fumi, me, Miki, Aika, Yuuka, Ayano, and Urara). There we met in a pretty nice restaurant to eat and drink a bit, talking about old times and catching up with everyone. One thing about not seeing these people for a long time... you tend for forget names. And even worse, you tend to forget faces. Take, for example, my blunder. I walked in the room, looked at the people inside, and thought '... who's friend is that...?' Errrr, that was actually Yuuka. In my defense, I think I have absolutely no hard copy of what she looked like in pictures either, so how was I supposed to know?? I was safe with my secret for a while, too, until Ayano asked me if I remembered everyone's name. GOD I hate when people do that! Stephen did it to me a few times with the baseball guys, too. Did I know them all? Nope. Do I still not know them all? Yup!
Anyway, dinner was pleasant, especially hanging out with a couple of my homeboys, Yusuke and Fumi. Fumi's presentation of Japanese to me was hilariously semi-insulting. It was really slow, but EXTREMELY sarcastic sounding. He got out of the habit after a little bit, and then later on when I wouldn't understand something he'd do it again, but at those times it was okay. The girls didn't hold back too much, though sometimes Miki and Ayano would speak English... which I was cool with. Man I have a lot of pictures of the girls... But yeah, we went to purikura afterwards and took some good shots. I also played Poppin' Music while the girls were cutting out the pictures. It was fun!
The next time we met was at Kohji's wedding surprise party. Kohji was a counselor from USDHSD 2004 and an all around spectacular guy. He was the first Japanese friend that I had that really listened to jazz. By that, I mean he even kept up with current artists (I specifically remember talking to him about the Dave Holland Quintet). He ended up getting married at the beginning of July when I was in Kyoto, but as for the party, it was really early and he showed up to be surprised and greeted by friends from when he was a student in HSD and from every year he was a counselor. People came from all over to see him, too, which was very cool. Aika ended up giving him a speech on behalf of us '04 kids. What'd she say? Don't remember, and probably wasn't really sure when she was saying it anyway. The important thing is, though, that he was happy, and he may have even shed a tear or two! He should have, at least, and if he didn't, he better have had after he read all of what was on the shirt that we gave him! That's an HSD counselor shirt fitted with signatures and messages from every person in attendance. I wrote in Japanese on it, and if you think that writing on a shirt in marker is hard, well, imagine what I had to go through. My year had these cats in attendance (from back left, Taka, Nori, Fumi, Jiro, Miho, me, Miki; from front left, Youhei, Azusa, Kohji, Ayano, Asami, Aika, and... uh... who the hell is that?). Oh no! She's in another picture, too. I think she set up the event. Was Azusa's partner in crime. Everyone thought it was cool that I was wearing the HSD shirt, by the way. It turns out, though, that it's one from HSD '03, not USHSD '04. HA! Joke's on them... suckers!
Afterwards, Jiro, Youhei, Fumi, and I hung out in Harajuku while the girls went shopping. Youhei left early, but the other two and I went walking around. Old men like this were enough to make Jiro, the Osakan, exclaim, of course, just like Kohei, "Tokyo is not Japan...". After cruising around we all went to eat and drink some more, ending with the videos of Jiro talking about how he hates Jews. I mean juu-s.
I have to leave to go correct some random Japanese dude's English. Hopefully he pays me : ) But, I will leave you with one more photo. FEAR THE POMPODOUR!!!!
Until next time...!!!
* Everyone that reads my blog (whether you like it or not) should download Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. I'll even pay the $4 you lost if you don't like it! (don't quote me on that)
** Hey Flicka-Flicka Fans, Sprite Remix may be a lost cause in the US, but that doesn't mean it is in Japan! Asahi's new drink is "Lucky Cider (with KIRAKIRA SPARKLE)" and is a refreshing replacement for the Flicka that we know and love.
Funny thing about the trip, though, was that we all agreed we STILL can't perfectly order food in Japan. The menu is just full of kanji that we don't know (because I mean, there're fish names and stuff... and I'm busy learning how to read and write "meteoric belt" and "volcanic zone"... COME ON!). And yeah, it's still a problem. I mean, do you inherently know what "Unagi Yamakake" is? (whatever, Akira!)
So there went the two-month anniversary reunion thing, and on the horizon was a load of other reunions that involved my friends from USHSD 2004 (starting front left and making a U around the back back to the front, that's Yusuke, Fumi, me, Miki, Aika, Yuuka, Ayano, and Urara). There we met in a pretty nice restaurant to eat and drink a bit, talking about old times and catching up with everyone. One thing about not seeing these people for a long time... you tend for forget names. And even worse, you tend to forget faces. Take, for example, my blunder. I walked in the room, looked at the people inside, and thought '... who's friend is that...?' Errrr, that was actually Yuuka. In my defense, I think I have absolutely no hard copy of what she looked like in pictures either, so how was I supposed to know?? I was safe with my secret for a while, too, until Ayano asked me if I remembered everyone's name. GOD I hate when people do that! Stephen did it to me a few times with the baseball guys, too. Did I know them all? Nope. Do I still not know them all? Yup!
Anyway, dinner was pleasant, especially hanging out with a couple of my homeboys, Yusuke and Fumi. Fumi's presentation of Japanese to me was hilariously semi-insulting. It was really slow, but EXTREMELY sarcastic sounding. He got out of the habit after a little bit, and then later on when I wouldn't understand something he'd do it again, but at those times it was okay. The girls didn't hold back too much, though sometimes Miki and Ayano would speak English... which I was cool with. Man I have a lot of pictures of the girls... But yeah, we went to purikura afterwards and took some good shots. I also played Poppin' Music while the girls were cutting out the pictures. It was fun!
The next time we met was at Kohji's wedding surprise party. Kohji was a counselor from USDHSD 2004 and an all around spectacular guy. He was the first Japanese friend that I had that really listened to jazz. By that, I mean he even kept up with current artists (I specifically remember talking to him about the Dave Holland Quintet). He ended up getting married at the beginning of July when I was in Kyoto, but as for the party, it was really early and he showed up to be surprised and greeted by friends from when he was a student in HSD and from every year he was a counselor. People came from all over to see him, too, which was very cool. Aika ended up giving him a speech on behalf of us '04 kids. What'd she say? Don't remember, and probably wasn't really sure when she was saying it anyway. The important thing is, though, that he was happy, and he may have even shed a tear or two! He should have, at least, and if he didn't, he better have had after he read all of what was on the shirt that we gave him! That's an HSD counselor shirt fitted with signatures and messages from every person in attendance. I wrote in Japanese on it, and if you think that writing on a shirt in marker is hard, well, imagine what I had to go through. My year had these cats in attendance (from back left, Taka, Nori, Fumi, Jiro, Miho, me, Miki; from front left, Youhei, Azusa, Kohji, Ayano, Asami, Aika, and... uh... who the hell is that?). Oh no! She's in another picture, too. I think she set up the event. Was Azusa's partner in crime. Everyone thought it was cool that I was wearing the HSD shirt, by the way. It turns out, though, that it's one from HSD '03, not USHSD '04. HA! Joke's on them... suckers!
Afterwards, Jiro, Youhei, Fumi, and I hung out in Harajuku while the girls went shopping. Youhei left early, but the other two and I went walking around. Old men like this were enough to make Jiro, the Osakan, exclaim, of course, just like Kohei, "Tokyo is not Japan...". After cruising around we all went to eat and drink some more, ending with the videos of Jiro talking about how he hates Jews. I mean juu-s.
I have to leave to go correct some random Japanese dude's English. Hopefully he pays me : ) But, I will leave you with one more photo. FEAR THE POMPODOUR!!!!
Until next time...!!!
* Everyone that reads my blog (whether you like it or not) should download Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. I'll even pay the $4 you lost if you don't like it! (don't quote me on that)
** Hey Flicka-Flicka Fans, Sprite Remix may be a lost cause in the US, but that doesn't mean it is in Japan! Asahi's new drink is "Lucky Cider (with KIRAKIRA SPARKLE)" and is a refreshing replacement for the Flicka that we know and love.
1 comment:
"I'm eating 2,000 yen Unagi and you can't even de-bone it for me! Come on!" I speak for everyone when I say we are looking forward to your arrival back in the states next week. In that week, however, you must convince all of Tokyo that Jews are good people, or make them change their word for gun. (it was gun, right? that was a couple blogs ago...) Enjoy your remaining time and try not to have too much jet lag.
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