Last night I was down at the yakitori, hanging out with some of the guys and having a good time. I tried some new dishes, including an egg omelet type thing that was excellent. It is painstakingly cooked so that the final omelet is made of paper-thin layers of egg, and wrapped and presented to you like a gift.
So I’m talking with some of the guys, and we’re passing around my English-Japanese dictionary trying to figure out different words. The guys are bummed out because some of the more risque Japanese terms are missing, and sometimes after a few drinks they feel it necessary to communicate these concepts to me.
A couple of girls came in and sat down in the back, right behind us. I had seen them there before – they are sisters or cousins of somebody’s wife. The beers started flowing, and I guess they got pretty drunk. It was about nine thirty, so I decided to leave – and so I said goodbye to my gang, and then the girls called me over to the table.
I stood there and flirted with them for a while, and they were insistent that I come back next week – I think they want to cook me dinner or something. The master came by and he got invited, too. One of the great things about being a foreigner is that you can play stupid when somebody asks tough questions – and trust me, there were some tough questions.
The best part came when one of my buddies came by to check on me, and then he gave the table a full-on blast of Japanese. I think he explained more about me in twenty seconds – it would have taken me two hours.
As I left the place, everyone said goodbye, even people I didn’t know – another nice thing about being a foreigner in Japan.
