The Circus is in Town

And by circus I mean my Aunt and Unlce! A few weeks ago Matthew and Kotoe came out to Suckuragi for a visit. They were in Japan to see Kotoe's sister's wedding, but couldnt resist a detour down to the Guchi-ken. Obviously, I gave them the grand tour-- Ell's ditch, Antonio's Yatai, and Shidax Karaoke.

The night started off well. What was supposed to be a bathroom break turned into an hour of Matt being pummeled by an old Japanese man at Ell's Ditch. He wanted to know Matt's name, occupation, birthplace, and you know, put his hand on his lap. After we said our goodbye's to all the drunken gaijin that make their usual Thursday night appearance, we headed to the yatai.


I'm sure Matt and Kotoe were very excited to meet the legendary Antonio and eat the oishii-est ramen within 10 square feet. Matt even got to fish out his own oden (which means Antonio loves him)!

There were some old business men at the yatai, and Matt and Kotoe chatted with some of them for a while. I don't know what they talked about but one crazy dude followed us into karaoke. After we said our goodbye's and got into a karaoke box there was a tappin' at the door. To our suprise the old business man, Antonio, and two gaijin wanted to join in on the fun.

Hilarious videos below:


(pervy old man)


(Antonio tearing it up)

(No, I wont post the one of my singing Mariah Carey, but with all the times it's been done and all the digital recording equipment available today, I'm sure it'll be on YouTube soon)

Surprise!

I walked right into it. Saturday, the night before my birthday, I unsuspectingly and quite drunkenly walked into a new bar with three of my friends, totally unaware that a gaggle of gaijin (and gaijin-lovers) were waiting inside to wish me a happy birthday.

Saturday night began with a meal at an organic restaurant in Yamaguchi city. It was really good and I was happy to be able to eat an entire meal at a restaurant! They had this carrot tempura that looked like shrimp tempura. おいしい！

Then we battled the rain and drove back to Tokuyama. The driver was from Yamaguchi, so I figured she was making this dangerous, dark 1 hour trip because she really really needed to get out of the house. I could have took the train home (and she obviously wasnt drinking that night).

We get to the gaijin-bar, Ell's Ditch and I start in on my cranberry-vodka nomihodai (all you can drink). I'm blabbing my life story or something pointless like that when Ashley shows up (late!) at 12:30 and says we have to go to this other bar, because her boyfriend is there and she promised to meet him.

We get there and my friend's name is on the flyer as the DJ. Him not telling me he's DJing didnt set off any suspicions. Ashley pays my 1000円　cover, and Im still not suspicious. We go inside and see my coworker inside and I still think nothing of it. I open the door to the thump-thump-thump-techno room and see *someone* who ten minutes earlier said he was too tired to come out, and I still don't get it and brush past him a little pissed off.

When I look in the room and see nearly half the people Ive met since coming to Japan sitting around and not enjoying the thumping I start to kind of get it (remember, I was half in nomihodai at that point). Finally, when my friend came up to me and said, "You realize everyone's here for you?" I replied, "Yeah, I know. I get it."

So I was standing on a dance floor with everyone staring at me laughing. People start coming up and saying "Happy Birthday" and giving me gifts. And I want to die. I then demand someone bring me a cranberry-vodka.

The rest of the night was fun and blurry. I remember I may have danced (or jumped). And my feet hurt because I wore heels that day (and a dress, OMG).

Then I spent my real birthday, Sunday, hungover and mostly in my birthday suit. Later, I went to an Indian restaurant with a boy who has such a HUGE crush on me he doesnt even know it (or what "crush" means, or where my blog is).

And my mom got me a Nintendo DS and Lauren got me the New Super Mario Brothers and Im in World 8 and about to beat the game.

Happy Sainto Patarikuzu Day

I have all this Irish blood in me (maybe I'm like 15% Irish--I dont really know, Ive never had my genetic makeup tested), but Ive never felt like celebrating Saint Patrick's Day before I came to Japan.

So on Saturday I paid 1000 yen to hear Sagi from Iwakuni play "Amazing Grace" on the bagpipes. Id never heard bagpipes before in my life. I dont think experiencing them played indoors by a Japanese self-proclaimed beginner was the best idea.

We went to the local Irish Pub (we actually always go there, this holiday is just a happy coincidence) and Guiness was only 500 yen so that was fantastic. I dont really have anything else to write about this night, but I need a few more lines so my photos are properly formatted on this post. If I didnt write this much they'd all be shoved together at the top and I wouldnt be able to go to sleep knowing how unattractive my blog has become. No one reads this shit anyway.

Oh and I dont smoke. *cough* I was just holding it for the cameraman. *cough*

Tomorrow I have my first Japanese lesson with my new teacher. It's at 10AM. That will be painful.

And Liz is coming in like a week and a half! Squeeeeel!

Dustin, Me, Ashley, Nick