Izakayas
I met some more great people last night at the hostel, and we decided to head out and have a few drinks in one of the local bars. Unfortunately, all the "western-style" bars were closed. Lucky for us, one of the guys in our group (which consisted of me, an American, a New Zealander, and three Brits) knew some basic Japanese, and was able to scan the street until he found the kanji for "alcohol" on one of the shops.
We went in and found ourselves in a tiny, smoky izakaya, which is sort of the Japanese equivalent of a tapas bar. Apparently they're renowned for not being terribly hospitable of non-regulars, but this one was run by an extremely friendly old man in a leather jacket who eagerly showed us in and gave us a booth near the back. He gave us some menus (entirely in Japanese), and then we tried to communicate that we wanted to split a bottle of sake. There were a few seconds of confused silence after we ordered, but then he gave us a hesitant nod, and returned with a large bottle. Unfortunately, some wires got crossed somewhere along the way, and it turns out he brought us a bottle of shochu, not sake. Shochu is a distilled spirit made from sake, but we only found that out after filling our glasses to the brim.
Fast forward half an hour. We've now made friends with one of the regulars, a Japanese businessman who tells us that he makes counterfeit mascot costumes. Assuming we have misunderstood, we ask for clarification, but it turns out that this guy actually makes counterfeit mascot costumes. He makes them in a factory in Indonesia, then sells them in China as replicas of the mascot costumes used in the British Premier League, despite the fact that they may or may not bear any resemblance to the actual mascots.
Fast forward another hour. Our booth now has four locals crowded in with our group of 6 foreigners, and we are taking turns belting out our respective national anthems. There is an endless parade of food being brought to our table. Shochu is deceptively smooth.
Fast forward to 2am. Conversation has devolved almost entirely to singing. Food and bottles of beer keep being brought to our table, despite the fact that we haven't ordered anything in at least 2 hours. We decide to leave before things get out of control.
3:30am - sleep, with visions of counterfeit mascots dancing in my head.
We went in and found ourselves in a tiny, smoky izakaya, which is sort of the Japanese equivalent of a tapas bar. Apparently they're renowned for not being terribly hospitable of non-regulars, but this one was run by an extremely friendly old man in a leather jacket who eagerly showed us in and gave us a booth near the back. He gave us some menus (entirely in Japanese), and then we tried to communicate that we wanted to split a bottle of sake. There were a few seconds of confused silence after we ordered, but then he gave us a hesitant nod, and returned with a large bottle. Unfortunately, some wires got crossed somewhere along the way, and it turns out he brought us a bottle of shochu, not sake. Shochu is a distilled spirit made from sake, but we only found that out after filling our glasses to the brim.
Fast forward half an hour. We've now made friends with one of the regulars, a Japanese businessman who tells us that he makes counterfeit mascot costumes. Assuming we have misunderstood, we ask for clarification, but it turns out that this guy actually makes counterfeit mascot costumes. He makes them in a factory in Indonesia, then sells them in China as replicas of the mascot costumes used in the British Premier League, despite the fact that they may or may not bear any resemblance to the actual mascots.
Fast forward another hour. Our booth now has four locals crowded in with our group of 6 foreigners, and we are taking turns belting out our respective national anthems. There is an endless parade of food being brought to our table. Shochu is deceptively smooth.
Fast forward to 2am. Conversation has devolved almost entirely to singing. Food and bottles of beer keep being brought to our table, despite the fact that we haven't ordered anything in at least 2 hours. We decide to leave before things get out of control.
3:30am - sleep, with visions of counterfeit mascots dancing in my head.
posted by Bryce at
11:35 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home