JAPANEXILE

2nd November - You may think its a little strange to be having a welcoming party now. Considering that we’ve been here for two months already! When these official events happen they need to find a day when EVERYONE can come. It was a rather distinguished guest list, most of our bosses from the board of education came (for part of the night anyway), along with many various friends and people we’ve never spoken to from work. The party itself was being held in a rather well hidden small Karaoke Bar above a shop in Abuta, we had been to collect the food from somewhere else with Kenzo (aka Karaoke King), which was nicely laid out in the bar along with multiple pitchers of beer when we arrived (late I might add, there was a problem with the door at work that inexplicably couldn’t wait until the morning to be fixed). After the obligatory speeches from various people, Craig and I included, the party began!

You hear stories and read about how different the Japanese become once the booze start flowing. I had never really believed it tho, until tonight. The change in their personalities and behaviour was truly astonishing. The Japanese have quite a healthy attitude toward drink in general. It doesn’t matter what you do on a night out when under the influence, no-one talks about it the next day. Personally I wish people had the same attitude elsewhere in the world. Within about an hour of the party starting in earnest Hiromi’s husband was passed out sprawled across the sofa. No-one bats an eyelid, apparently he’s always like this. Kenzo was sitting opposite us (when he wasn’t helping himself to beer from behind the bar) entertaining me with his speed eating ability, there were hands and chopsticks everywhere! After the food the infamous and aptly named Karaoke King showed his skills, his opening performance setting the tone for the rest of the night, he was amazing. He came out wearing a glittery dress and a wig belting out some Japanese Rock/Pop song. Kenzo can do the Japanese male pop voice perfectly, and he’s quite a showman to boot, regularly changing his costume and getting the crowd involved. Suzuki-san was the other biggest surprise star of the night, he’s a big fan of Karaoke for sure! Quite literally anytime the mic wasn’t being used by someone else it was one of those two filling the silence. After an hour or so the higher ups left the party, not sure if that’s the normal practice here, but it was probably for the better. I might have felt a little ashamed the next day if they had seen some of the things I ended up doing… The beer flowed non stop all night to the point where we were all rather drunk. Craig, Cori and I belting out song after song arm in arm with Kenzo, only stopping for some shameless flirting with some of the nurses from the hospital who were in the same bar. About 1am a few of us headed out to a ramen shop for a well earned snack. I now think ramen is easily the greatest food to have after a night out. All partied out Craig had a kip on the floor, along with Kenzo and some other guy from work.

Watching the behaviour of everyone change so much was so funny I can’t even describe it. I was hoarse with laughter. I cannot wait to go out with some of those guys again! Photo Album