Karaoke

I sometimes feel like I want to share every single day. If ever it is too much, my apologies, well not really; if it's too much then don't read. I do this as much for myself as for all you back home. I have a terrible memory, and well this enhances it. Also, everyday a huge adventure and I'm excited to tell you of the things we've encountered. And last night was some of the most fun we've had yet.

Nami, the English teacher at Hotuku, invited us to meet her and a friend, Ryu, at Izakaya; traditional Japanese bar. And they have food. She calls and tells us that it's only a 15 minute bike ride along a riverside path, but of course we only have one bike and have been walking a lot so decide that we'll just walk it. With Chu-Hi's in hand we set off. It's glorious and not that far.

We arrive to the bar about 40 minutes later. Here you take your shoes off at the door. You sit on the floor at the table but there is room for you feet underneath, there's a deep hole in the floor under the table. Just a little more 'Japanese' than other places we've been. It's also nice being there with a local. They order drinks and food for us and they explain things. We got to try so many new and different things that we wouldn't otherwise have been able to. We had chicken kidney on skewers. We had tako (octopus), possibly raw, in wasabi sauce. We some of the best edamame I've ever tasted. We had amazing rice in an ancient rice cooker served at the table. And of course we had drinks.

We ate and we chatted, for hours. We were the last people to leave and we learned some things as well. Nami's name means 'wave', as in tsunami. I thought it was cute. Ryu is visiting from Kyushu where they are from and he was staying in Osaka. He was scared of the trains for some reason and took a taxi home, which is not cheap. Earlier that day he was at a Pachinko Parlor and won 100,000 yen. That's $1300. He didn't need it so he gave it to a student who was at the Parlor.

After shutting down the Izakaya we head down the street for some good 'ole karaoke. A very big deal here, everyone does it. The nice thing about karaoke in Japan is that it's in private rooms with only you and your friends. You pay by the hour and there are books full of songs to choose from. We sing and sing and sing, for an hour; and then we venture home. Yeah, it's a long walk for some but very enjoyable for us, especially in the middle of the night with nobody around.

Rob, Kyu and Nami at the Izakaya

Karaoke