Fun With Okonomiyaki

On Sunday night, an impromptu okonomiyaki party happened at my apartment. I spent the day with Hessen and Chizu, first at a tea ceremony, then the Kure food festival. We ran into everyone we knew, and eventually it was a huge hoard of us roaming the streets of Kure. Around 6 p.m., it had finally boiled down to Greg, Brian, Chizu, and me, and we didn't know what to do. I didn't have any money, and no one wanted to go home... so somehow we decided to make okonomiyaki at my apartment. Well, on the way, we ran into Brandon, and of course Hessen came, and we couldn't not call Julie... you see how it goes. Chizu was the cook, with Greg and I as alternating helpers. It was insane. Just imagine a 90 pound Japanese girl stirring up cabbage and flour and eggs and pork and noodles and daikon, with two fry pans on the only two burners in my tiny Japanese kitchen. It was cute. So we ate okonomiyaki, drank beer and chuhai, and made a mess. Greg told racist jokes. We had a southern accent contest. We made fun of Canada (for Hessen's benefit). Chizu explained the usage, or lack of, "I love you" in Japanese relationships. Overall a very educational evening. Pictured above from left to right : me, Brian, Greg, Hessen, Julie's bum, and Brandon.

That's Chizu and me during her turn in the cage. It was quite the hot spot. Later when Hirahara showed up, a long black wig and a Tom Cruise mask were thrown into the mix. Hirahara plays violin in an instrumental band, and they love to dress up goofy for their shows. During the last show I saw, he came out in a giant black fro wig and a fake black mustache. I guess the stuff he brought to okonomiyaki night is for their next show. Here's a preview...

Julie is a lucky woman!

Lots of Stress, Not Much Nara

This is all I managed to see of Nara this weekend. Angie and I met up in Osaka and headed to Soni to stay with Rob. Kevin was already there when we arrived, and we all went out for kaiten (conveyor belt) sushi in the city closest to Rob's village. So after a freezing night in the mura (village), the plan was to wake up early and head to Nara for sightseeing and a Halloween party that night. First, we woke up late. Angie and I cooked the boys a huge breakfast of eggs and pancakes... which we ate with honey, because it looked similar to hot-cake syrup, and Rob couldnt read the bottle. After breakfast came the coolest part of the weekend by far - the onsen. An onsen is a hot Japanese public bath. The one in Soni is separated by sex. When Angie and I walked in the locker room.. BAM naked Japanese women everywhere.

Aside from the slightly akward nakedness, the onsen was amazing. It was cold outside.. about 50 or 60 F, and Angie and I were naked in a natural rock hot tub. You just kid of sit there, half boiling, half relaxing, and look at the mountains surrounding you. It's incredible. Soni is a beautiful place. I would be jealous of Rob, except I can visit whenever I want, and I'm not stuck there with no other gaijin for 3/4 of the month. But back to my story. So after the onsen, it was already 3. It gets dark here around 5:30 now. That meant we had two hours to get to Nara (1 hour by train) and see everything we wanted to see (impossible). Everyone ended up arguing about what to do and who was to blame for being so late, and it turned into this horrible stressful day. We ended up not making it to Nara until after sundown, and all we managed to see was a little bit of Nara park before Kevin started feeling sick and wanted to go home. We ended up in Kevin's city at a swanky little bar called Polka Dot, where I had an amazing Grasshopper martini. After crashing on Kevin's floor Sunday, Angie returned to Osaka to catch her bus, and Rob and I went back to Soni. We spent the day driving up the mountains, which was terrifying and breathtaking.

And we ended up here:

This picture doesn't do the view justice at all. It was incredible, but I thought I was going to fall over just being there it was so dizzying.

Anyway, that was the weekend in a nutshell. Now I'm home, sleeping off the sleep deprivation. Miss you all more than I ever imagined possible.