Banzai took the day off of work today so that we could beat the crowds and get into Costco to do some shopping for the big fiesta on Sunday. As it turned out, the crowds were still there – lots of them. We walked up and down the aisles and stocked up. I didn’t find anything I needed except for contact solution. Everything else was no big deal or I could get it at my local Costco in Amagasaki.
After Costco we walked through Trader Joe’s (or TJ’s, as my mom calls it) and bought some more stuff. I found some salmon jerky for the history teacher – he’ll get a kick out of that.
My dad and I decided to meet up with Mark at the sushi restaurant in Sonoma, called Sushinoma. I thought it was cool when I saw the kanji for the name of the restaurant (寿司の間) – it basically translates into “sushi-time”. It’s a clever name in English and Japanese.
We had a combination sashimi platter, and my dad had his first experience with raw fish. The quality of the sashimi and sushi was quite good – very little difference between the sushi I get when I buy it in Japan. We had some hand rolls, so nigiri sushi, and some makizushi as well – delicious.
After dinner we headed to Murphy’s and had a beer there. It was pretty lively, and before long Victor and Rico showed up. We sat around and chatted and enjoyed the atmosphere and nice cool weather. I was loving it. My brother and dad took off soon after, but Rico and Victor and I stayed through a few more beers to relax and catch up.
During the evening we ran into one of my father’s old students, Nate Pouch, who was pretty sloshed. He told us all about his experiences in Amsterdam while eating our appetizers and shouting obscenities across the crowd. It was a lot of fun – really!
At 10 p.m. or so we drove over to the radio station to watch my brother’s radio show. It was cool to be in the studio with the mood lighting and have the whole place to ourselves. Mark did a great show and told us all about how it worked. I’ve gotten a little more appreciation into what goes into a show when I’m listening in Japan.
Around 11 o’clock we left the station to head our separate ways. Mark was probably glad to get rid of us. We’re all going to meet up again during the party on Sunday. Tomorrow my grandparents fly in from San Diego, so we’re heading into Sacramento to meet them at the airport. It’ll be great to see them again!
