After the hecticness of work last week, I was given a chance to unwind this
weekend which was very welcome.
Saturday night I went to my friend Rauls house for his birthday party. The theme was a `Wine and Cheese party`, so everyone had to bring a bottle and/or cheese. Raul knows a lot of people so the party was pretty crowded. I met some really safe people and found that there are actually quite a few American fans of British football. They seemed to know their stuff as well and so made for good conversation.
The food was awesome with some really tasty cheese as well as bread, crisps and some awesome other finger food. There were these rolls of smoked ham with this lush cheese filling in the middle that was properly tasty. Im not a big cheese man, but I must have eaten my body weight in cheese that night.
After plenty more lush cheese and wine and birthday cake, everyone left and about 15 of us headed to Karaoke in Sakae. The limit for the room was 12 but we managed to smuggle a few extra people in. We also smuggled a few cans in as well, as the bar did not stock alcohol.
We only had the room for 2 hours, but I managed to get about 6 songs in, a personal highlight being Journeys “Don’t Stop Believin”. This one American guy impressed everyone with his version of a Yui J-Pop song which he sung entirely in Japanese. What a winner. Also this Japanese guy did Queens “I Was Born To Love You” and I swear it was like Freddie was there man, he properly hit every note.
After Karaoke some people went to the pub to stay out all night, but I decided to get the last train home so I could get up in time for the cinema the next day. When I got home I felt pretty rough. I don’t know if it was the copious amounts of wine, or the copious amounts of cheese, or the copious amounts of both or what but it went straight to my head when I got in the door. I eventually stumbled into bed and managed to get a fairly decent nights sleep.
When I woke the next day we headed into the city. Me and Ayae were going to meet my friends Callie, Eri and of course Japanese Bob. As we got into the city quite early we did some window shopping and got lunch. We went to this slightly upmarket Indian restaurant (Which was still cheaper than the average Curry house back home!). The décor was really cool and had the look of, well a Japanese restaurant trying to look Indian. I had the “Meat Special” and Ayae had the “Lady`s Lunch”. To be honest I kind of fancied the look of the Ladies Lunch but feared some horribly embarrassing situation where they would tell me I was not allowed to and so went with the altogether more masculine sounding “Meat Special”.
This consisted of 2 small pots of chicken curry (one was Korma and I think the other was Jalfrezi), some basmati rice, a salad, a Sheek kebab sausage type thing, a tandoori chicken leg and a Naan bread. This was properly lush and tasted more classy than the average curry.
When we first went into the restaurant Ayae noticed one of her mates from Uni was working there and so we got a drink on the house. I went with a Mango Lassi which was a lush Mangoey Yoghurty drink, which went well with the curry.
The arrangements for the cinema had to be changed in the end so me and Ayae were left in the city with nothing to do. As a result of this we decided to spend rather a lot of money on Lottery scratch cards. Whilst we didn’t win much, it was a good way to use up time as we had to keep going back to collect winnings and buy more tickets.
After a little more waiting we headed to Nana-Chan to meet everybody. Nana Chan is a big statue thing near Nagoya station. Why shes called Nana-Chan, nobody knows but she is one tall lady. Whilst we were waiting for people I took a picture of the new building that attracts a lot of attention from people when they leave the station. Apparently it’s a school for design, and although not quite finished yet, it is looking properly awesome.
I also considered what I was going to say to Bob. Whilst I was waxing lyrically in Japanese with him last week that was under the influence which does of course as I`ve said before, rapidly increase anybody`s linguistic skills. I was therefore a bit nervous about meeting him sober, even thinking maybe I should do a few shots of vodka first thing. In the end I went in dry and actually did ok. Unlike most Japanese people Bob speaks slowly and quite simply so I was able to understand him quite well.
The cinema we went to was called “The Picadilly” and was on the 7th floor of one of Nagoya`s skyscrapers. I got some lush caramel popcorn and went into the theatre which contrary to Japanese tradition was absolutely huge and was pretty full. The film we were going to watch had just opened and there was a bit of buzz about it in the press here because this famous pop star guy is doing his first acting role. After some trailers for some other Japanese films which looked awesome, the movie started.
It was called “Kage-Hinatanisaku” and was a drama about different groups of people, in the style of Pulp Fiction or Love Actually. Well it was more Love Actually than Pulp Fiction, but anyway the stories were about this one guy who had gambled all his money away, this one guy who was homeless, this one woman who was looking for her dad and this geek that fancied this pop star.
It’s the kind of film that would never get translated into English for international release, a film completely aimed at the domestic market, but because of that I was quite excited to watch it. Whilst I could understand the absolute minimum of dialogue I could just about follow the basic plot (I found out afterwards that there were loads of plot twists I missed), and actually quite enjoyed it. There was plenty of arty Guy Ritchie-esque edits, and the locations were awesome. It was set almost exclusively in Asakusa and Akihabara in Tokyo where I have spent quite a lot of time, and so it had a vague familiarity about it which was cool.
Some of the jokes wer
e quite funny as well. Im not sure if I`ve been here too long or what, but I used to totally look down on Japanese comedy, but now I sort of get it, (well some of it anyway).
The film ended in a hail of tears. Seriously there was a good 30-40 minutes of solid crying as all the characters reunited with their long lost relatives, or gained redemption, or made good on their unrequited love. There was also some really cheesy symbolic gestures which were well over done, but like I said this is aimed at the domestic market, and the Japanese love that sort of thing.
After the film we headed home, and I prepared to go out to a bar to see the Tottenham game that would be on that night. I had previously also downloaded this program called “TVU” which someone at Rauls party had recommended to me for watching live premier league football on the internet. Whilst I doubted it would work, and even if it did they probably wouldn’t be showing the FA cup, I was surprised but delighted to find it did work. So in the end I didn’t have to go out and get an expensive taxi at 3am to watch Tottenham lose, I could do it fro
m the comfort of my own home.
They also show football games live that even Sky Sports don’t show so I was proper chuffed to find it worked.
Monday and Tuesday were spent at work although its test week this week so all my kids lessons involved testing each of the kids. This is kind of good and kind of bad, its good because I don’t really have to plan, just turn up and ask them the questions on the test paper, but bad because its not as fun as the regular lessons. Anyway Im hoping I haven’t ruined the kids` education too badly, and hopefully they should all have improved from the last years tests.
On Wednesday I went with Ayae down to her parents to welcome back Yusuke, her brother. He has been in Canada for a year, and so this was the first time any of us have seen him in a year. After meeting Yusuke we went back to their house and chilled out. For dinner
we had fresh sushi which was awesome as always.
In Ayaes house, her mum had put her dolls out for “Dolls Day” which is a Japanese festival for Dolls (well not for dolls but about dolls). Anyway in every house with a daughter you`ll see they have some slightly creepy looking dolls out around this time of year, so that the Gods ensure that the daughter gets married off in the future.
The next day we went to Ise shrine to get blessed for the coming year. Usually it is done around New Years day but because Yusuke was in Canada at that time, they waited til he came back. This was a big fami
ly day out with both Grandmas coming along for good measure.
I wont go into too many details about Ise shrine because I did that in my blog last year (see the myspace blog in January 2007), but basically it’s a really awesome town with a really awesome shrine.
After going through the ceremony which involved kneeling down and the occasional bow, we went into Ise to get some food. We went to a lush Udon shop which had some sesame coated Tuna sashimi on vinegared Sushi rice, with a bowl of Udon noodles and soup on the side. This was a really awesome meal.
We also went through the main street of Ise, and me and
Ayaes Grandma got lots of free samples of the various grilled fish and chestnuts and other foods on offer. At one point we found ourselves in this really cool fish shop that had these huge fish on the walls which was really crazy. We also stumbled upon this awesome drum concert which was really cool (see movie below).
After walking for a while we stopped at an Amaizake (sweet Sake) stall. This was a little strange to the pallete at first but it was nice and warm, so was a good drink to have on such a bitterly cold day.
When we got home Ayaes Dad had lots of fresh crabs which we deshelled and ate immediately. After that we had some really nice Sukiyaki. Sukiyaki is a famous dish which is like a soup with meat and vegetables. The difference here is that you also get a bowl of raw egg to dip each mouthful in first which, although doesn’t sound that tempting is actually really nice. Another of Sukiyakis unique aspects is that there is no given rule to what you put in it. So Sukiyaki usually filled with loads of random ingredients. This means that different families in Japan all have their own recipes for Sukiyaki, which I guess makes it one of the more interesting dishes of Japan.
weekend which was very welcome.Saturday night I went to my friend Rauls house for his birthday party. The theme was a `Wine and Cheese party`, so everyone had to bring a bottle and/or cheese. Raul knows a lot of people so the party was pretty crowded. I met some really safe people and found that there are actually quite a few American fans of British football. They seemed to know their stuff as well and so made for good conversation.
The food was awesome with some really tasty cheese as well as bread, crisps and some awesome other finger food. There were these rolls of smoked ham with this lush cheese filling in the middle that was properly tasty. Im not a big cheese man, but I must have eaten my body weight in cheese that night.
After plenty more lush cheese and wine and birthday cake, everyone left and about 15 of us headed to Karaoke in Sakae. The limit for the room was 12 but we managed to smuggle a few extra people in. We also smuggled a few cans in as well, as the bar did not stock alcohol.
We only had the room for 2 hours, but I managed to get about 6 songs in, a personal highlight being Journeys “Don’t Stop Believin”. This one American guy impressed everyone with his version of a Yui J-Pop song which he sung entirely in Japanese. What a winner. Also this Japanese guy did Queens “I Was Born To Love You” and I swear it was like Freddie was there man, he properly hit every note.
After Karaoke some people went to the pub to stay out all night, but I decided to get the last train home so I could get up in time for the cinema the next day. When I got home I felt pretty rough. I don’t know if it was the copious amounts of wine, or the copious amounts of cheese, or the copious amounts of both or what but it went straight to my head when I got in the door. I eventually stumbled into bed and managed to get a fairly decent nights sleep.
When I woke the next day we headed into the city. Me and Ayae were going to meet my friends Callie, Eri and of course Japanese Bob. As we got into the city quite early we did some window shopping and got lunch. We went to this slightly upmarket Indian restaurant (Which was still cheaper than the average Curry house back home!). The décor was really cool and had the look of, well a Japanese restaurant trying to look Indian. I had the “Meat Special” and Ayae had the “Lady`s Lunch”. To be honest I kind of fancied the look of the Ladies Lunch but feared some horribly embarrassing situation where they would tell me I was not allowed to and so went with the altogether more masculine sounding “Meat Special”.
This consisted of 2 small pots of chicken curry (one was Korma and I think the other was Jalfrezi), some basmati rice, a salad, a Sheek kebab sausage type thing, a tandoori chicken leg and a Naan bread. This was properly lush and tasted more classy than the average curry.
When we first went into the restaurant Ayae noticed one of her mates from Uni was working there and so we got a drink on the house. I went with a Mango Lassi which was a lush Mangoey Yoghurty drink, which went well with the curry.
The arrangements for the cinema had to be changed in the end so me and Ayae were left in the city with nothing to do. As a result of this we decided to spend rather a lot of money on Lottery scratch cards. Whilst we didn’t win much, it was a good way to use up time as we had to keep going back to collect winnings and buy more tickets.
After a little more waiting we headed to Nana-Chan to meet everybody. Nana Chan is a big statue thing near Nagoya station. Why shes called Nana-Chan, nobody knows but she is one tall lady. Whilst we were waiting for people I took a picture of the new building that attracts a lot of attention from people when they leave the station. Apparently it’s a school for design, and although not quite finished yet, it is looking properly awesome.
I also considered what I was going to say to Bob. Whilst I was waxing lyrically in Japanese with him last week that was under the influence which does of course as I`ve said before, rapidly increase anybody`s linguistic skills. I was therefore a bit nervous about meeting him sober, even thinking maybe I should do a few shots of vodka first thing. In the end I went in dry and actually did ok. Unlike most Japanese people Bob speaks slowly and quite simply so I was able to understand him quite well.
The cinema we went to was called “The Picadilly” and was on the 7th floor of one of Nagoya`s skyscrapers. I got some lush caramel popcorn and went into the theatre which contrary to Japanese tradition was absolutely huge and was pretty full. The film we were going to watch had just opened and there was a bit of buzz about it in the press here because this famous pop star guy is doing his first acting role. After some trailers for some other Japanese films which looked awesome, the movie started.
It was called “Kage-Hinatanisaku” and was a drama about different groups of people, in the style of Pulp Fiction or Love Actually. Well it was more Love Actually than Pulp Fiction, but anyway the stories were about this one guy who had gambled all his money away, this one guy who was homeless, this one woman who was looking for her dad and this geek that fancied this pop star.
It’s the kind of film that would never get translated into English for international release, a film completely aimed at the domestic market, but because of that I was quite excited to watch it. Whilst I could understand the absolute minimum of dialogue I could just about follow the basic plot (I found out afterwards that there were loads of plot twists I missed), and actually quite enjoyed it. There was plenty of arty Guy Ritchie-esque edits, and the locations were awesome. It was set almost exclusively in Asakusa and Akihabara in Tokyo where I have spent quite a lot of time, and so it had a vague familiarity about it which was cool.
Some of the jokes wer
e quite funny as well. Im not sure if I`ve been here too long or what, but I used to totally look down on Japanese comedy, but now I sort of get it, (well some of it anyway).The film ended in a hail of tears. Seriously there was a good 30-40 minutes of solid crying as all the characters reunited with their long lost relatives, or gained redemption, or made good on their unrequited love. There was also some really cheesy symbolic gestures which were well over done, but like I said this is aimed at the domestic market, and the Japanese love that sort of thing.
After the film we headed home, and I prepared to go out to a bar to see the Tottenham game that would be on that night. I had previously also downloaded this program called “TVU” which someone at Rauls party had recommended to me for watching live premier league football on the internet. Whilst I doubted it would work, and even if it did they probably wouldn’t be showing the FA cup, I was surprised but delighted to find it did work. So in the end I didn’t have to go out and get an expensive taxi at 3am to watch Tottenham lose, I could do it fro
m the comfort of my own home.They also show football games live that even Sky Sports don’t show so I was proper chuffed to find it worked.
Monday and Tuesday were spent at work although its test week this week so all my kids lessons involved testing each of the kids. This is kind of good and kind of bad, its good because I don’t really have to plan, just turn up and ask them the questions on the test paper, but bad because its not as fun as the regular lessons. Anyway Im hoping I haven’t ruined the kids` education too badly, and hopefully they should all have improved from the last years tests.
On Wednesday I went with Ayae down to her parents to welcome back Yusuke, her brother. He has been in Canada for a year, and so this was the first time any of us have seen him in a year. After meeting Yusuke we went back to their house and chilled out. For dinner
we had fresh sushi which was awesome as always.In Ayaes house, her mum had put her dolls out for “Dolls Day” which is a Japanese festival for Dolls (well not for dolls but about dolls). Anyway in every house with a daughter you`ll see they have some slightly creepy looking dolls out around this time of year, so that the Gods ensure that the daughter gets married off in the future.
The next day we went to Ise shrine to get blessed for the coming year. Usually it is done around New Years day but because Yusuke was in Canada at that time, they waited til he came back. This was a big fami
ly day out with both Grandmas coming along for good measure.I wont go into too many details about Ise shrine because I did that in my blog last year (see the myspace blog in January 2007), but basically it’s a really awesome town with a really awesome shrine.
After going through the ceremony which involved kneeling down and the occasional bow, we went into Ise to get some food. We went to a lush Udon shop which had some sesame coated Tuna sashimi on vinegared Sushi rice, with a bowl of Udon noodles and soup on the side. This was a really awesome meal.
We also went through the main street of Ise, and me and
Ayaes Grandma got lots of free samples of the various grilled fish and chestnuts and other foods on offer. At one point we found ourselves in this really cool fish shop that had these huge fish on the walls which was really crazy. We also stumbled upon this awesome drum concert which was really cool (see movie below).After walking for a while we stopped at an Amaizake (sweet Sake) stall. This was a little strange to the pallete at first but it was nice and warm, so was a good drink to have on such a bitterly cold day.
When we got home Ayaes Dad had lots of fresh crabs which we deshelled and ate immediately. After that we had some really nice Sukiyaki. Sukiyaki is a famous dish which is like a soup with meat and vegetables. The difference here is that you also get a bowl of raw egg to dip each mouthful in first which, although doesn’t sound that tempting is actually really nice. Another of Sukiyakis unique aspects is that there is no given rule to what you put in it. So Sukiyaki usually filled with loads of random ingredients. This means that different families in Japan all have their own recipes for Sukiyaki, which I guess makes it one of the more interesting dishes of Japan.
The next day we went back to Nagoya as I have to be at work for Saturday. More testing so hopefully thatll go alright!
Anyway that’s about it. Be sure to tune in next week for a Rage Against The Machine special. I can hardly wait. UH!!!!!!!!
Peace out
Jack
1 comment:
thats the building me and alex were talking about! Its cool to see that you found it interesting too! Next japanese film for you to see is that next one in that series we saw on the plane...classic.
Z
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