friday night: yu's performance
tried to take a nap but couldn't cuz i was hyped for tonite.
went to shinjuku and met up with mike. after tryin' to go to watami, we ended up at this pub. had some guiness and chicken & chips. met up with yu and then went in to garam. when we first got there, it wasn't too packed and this was @ midnite! yu was gonna perform @ 0230, so we had to chill for a little bit. there's these stairs outside the club where people go to talk and get away from the loud music. mike, bein' a little bit tipsy, was talkin' a little bit loud...then this one african dude speaks up tells mike, in english and japanese that he has been tolerant and that you should do the same cuz they're talkin' bout some serious stuff, etc. so mike asks, what are ya'll talkin' bout and the guys goes it's none of your business. i was like whoah, but bein' level headed i told mike let's be up cuz the vibe here just got sour. so we bounced back into the club and hung out near the dj booth and talked with hide and chee. then, some commotion starts up @ the other side of the club. as i made over to see what was goin' on, i find out that it's a girl dancin'. soon after, she was on the floor, first with her booty shakin' in da air then she startin' rollin' around on the floor. kinda weird...but maybe it's normal...i'm still new to this reggae thing.
later on that night while i was just chillin' with yu's friends, i couldn't find mike. when he finally came back, he was trippin' out cuz he was talkin' to the african all in chinese! anyhow...yu performance was about to get underway. man...he is a totally different person when he performs! i had a little taste last month, but this time...was kinda crazy. mike was totally shocked. anyhow...we partied til about 0530 and then went to go eat some ramen with yu, ai, hide, hanzo & mike. on my way back home, yu and i were pretty damn tired. thank god the train i got on ended @ tsudanuma or else i would have been stuck in chiba. as i was walkin' to shin tsudanuma eki, with my hat and hood on, i saw some kids that looked familiar...it was the girls bball team...guess they were goin' to a tournament while i was comin' home! ouch!! anyhow...i came home and crashed out.
saturday: me and hideki's bday party
slept in til like 1500
while i was waitin' for the train to head to ueno, i saw tomo comin' back from work. didn't really have time to talk, but it always nice to see somebody ya know cuz it's pretty rare when you're not in your hometown. met up with hideki @ starbucks @ 1800, then met up with aki and ikko. kaoru was busy @ the restaurant makin' the final preparations. tonyuu nabe was on the menu tonite. what is tonyuu nabe? well, it's the tofu before the final stage of the process. after feastin' on all kinds of yummy vegetables, meat and seafood, we put udon noodles in the leftover dashi. reminded me of the firepot dinners back home. for dessert, ikko baked a chocolate/white chocolate strawberry cake which was delicious. I don't normally eat cake but this cake wasn't too sweet. the girls got hideki and i our personal names, hand-painted ketai strap. they also got us a keychain: hideki got a ebi tenpura and i got a yaki onigiri. i also posed the question of ippai vs. ippiki and all of them answered without hesitation "ippai" i was like damn, ya'll know your stuff, yo! ikko also talked about how she went to the wakanohana's (brother of my favorite sumo wrestler, takanohana) resturant. we're plannin' on goin' there soon.
after cleanin' up, we went to go sing karaoke for like an hour or so. then i caught the train and went back to funabashi. on my walk to shin tsudanuma eki, i saw my buddy mark and this girl. when i finally got his attention, he was pretty surprised to see me. he and his friend keiko were just comin' back from watami. when he introduced me to his friend, she was a little confused (like all japanese who first meet me) of what nationality i was. since mark was a little tipsy, he was spoutin' all these things off to his friend about me. the funniest thing being,"kevin may look and be japanese american, but he's really black!" keiko got off @ maebara so mark and i just talked for like 2 min, cuz the next stop is my station.
after arrivin' @ yakuendai, decided to drop by serenade to say hi and have a drink. was totally shocked to see sakamoto there. this was my first time seein' him there. he was with these two other ladies who he introduced me too: mina chan and ito chan. we were there til about 0200 when sakamoto asks me if i wanted to go sing karaoke with them...i was like...ummm...what the heck. i was a little concerned bout mina chan and ito chan...aren't they a little old to be goin' out @ this time?? sakamoto reassured me that it was ok, so we caught a cab to tsudanuma and went to go sing karaoke for 2 hours. after singin', sakamoto insisted that i stay at his place so i agreed. got to his mansion, which was very nice. i got to sleep in kana's (sakamoto's youngest daughter) room because she sleeps with sakamoto and his wife. got to bed @ around 0530.
sunday
after sleeping for maybe 4 hours, woke up and had a grubbin' breakfast made by sakamoto's wife. he asked me if i wanted to go to tokyo with his family to go see the jintai fushigi exbihit. i was like ok whatever so we headed to the tokyo international forum. when we got there, the line was crazy long! i couldn't even see the end of it. we asked how long it would be and the man said about 1 1/2 hours! sakamoto's wife and kids waited in line while we went to look around. tokyo international forum is a modern, relatively new center that resembles makuhari messe in a way. it was a little kimochi warui (sick feelin') seein' actual dead people in this new plastic way of preservation called plastomic the body, organs, etc. i saw everything from muscles, organs, veins, babies, tons of human beings and one of the most interestin' was a full size human, horizontally cut in about 2-3 inch cross sections. the worst thing for me was seein' the eyes and the babies. everything else was ok. for all you doctors out there, ya'll would love this exhibit. it would've been nicer to be able to take able to take my time, but there was so many people...more people than on the weekend night yamanote sen or sobu sen combined. it was even crazier than sanjya matsuri. i would always hear mienai (i can't see) and see people literally pushin' each other. anyhow, sakamoto and i had to head back to funabashi for shacho's bday party @ 1500 @ ikko.
got to ikko @ 1500 and mama was there cookin' up a storm which consisted of: kamo nabe, karaage, butaage, tenpura (nasu, satsuma imo, piman), kabocha, ninniku ika, ninnniku tsunagimo, kim chee, salad and finished the night with miso shiru and onigiri.
shacho came through with some delicious nihon shuu and the slowly people started to come. yuasa sensei, yoko, kobi, ken, kumi, sensei, mori, takahashi, kita, ozaki, junko & jomi all came out throughout the night.
mama & i sang happy birthday to shacho. it was just nice to have these people, all from different walks of life as part of my takinoi/yakuendai family. @ the end of the night, mama went home, so i was left in charge of makin' drinks, etc. as i began washin' all the dishes, kumi san jumped behind the counter to help me out. before we could finish, shacho walked and it's usually my responsibility to walk him home. so i said my goodbyes and took shacho home. pretty much crashed out after gettin' home.
tried to take a nap but couldn't cuz i was hyped for tonite.
went to shinjuku and met up with mike. after tryin' to go to watami, we ended up at this pub. had some guiness and chicken & chips. met up with yu and then went in to garam. when we first got there, it wasn't too packed and this was @ midnite! yu was gonna perform @ 0230, so we had to chill for a little bit. there's these stairs outside the club where people go to talk and get away from the loud music. mike, bein' a little bit tipsy, was talkin' a little bit loud...then this one african dude speaks up tells mike, in english and japanese that he has been tolerant and that you should do the same cuz they're talkin' bout some serious stuff, etc. so mike asks, what are ya'll talkin' bout and the guys goes it's none of your business. i was like whoah, but bein' level headed i told mike let's be up cuz the vibe here just got sour. so we bounced back into the club and hung out near the dj booth and talked with hide and chee. then, some commotion starts up @ the other side of the club. as i made over to see what was goin' on, i find out that it's a girl dancin'. soon after, she was on the floor, first with her booty shakin' in da air then she startin' rollin' around on the floor. kinda weird...but maybe it's normal...i'm still new to this reggae thing.
later on that night while i was just chillin' with yu's friends, i couldn't find mike. when he finally came back, he was trippin' out cuz he was talkin' to the african all in chinese! anyhow...yu performance was about to get underway. man...he is a totally different person when he performs! i had a little taste last month, but this time...was kinda crazy. mike was totally shocked. anyhow...we partied til about 0530 and then went to go eat some ramen with yu, ai, hide, hanzo & mike. on my way back home, yu and i were pretty damn tired. thank god the train i got on ended @ tsudanuma or else i would have been stuck in chiba. as i was walkin' to shin tsudanuma eki, with my hat and hood on, i saw some kids that looked familiar...it was the girls bball team...guess they were goin' to a tournament while i was comin' home! ouch!! anyhow...i came home and crashed out.
saturday: me and hideki's bday party
slept in til like 1500
while i was waitin' for the train to head to ueno, i saw tomo comin' back from work. didn't really have time to talk, but it always nice to see somebody ya know cuz it's pretty rare when you're not in your hometown. met up with hideki @ starbucks @ 1800, then met up with aki and ikko. kaoru was busy @ the restaurant makin' the final preparations. tonyuu nabe was on the menu tonite. what is tonyuu nabe? well, it's the tofu before the final stage of the process. after feastin' on all kinds of yummy vegetables, meat and seafood, we put udon noodles in the leftover dashi. reminded me of the firepot dinners back home. for dessert, ikko baked a chocolate/white chocolate strawberry cake which was delicious. I don't normally eat cake but this cake wasn't too sweet. the girls got hideki and i our personal names, hand-painted ketai strap. they also got us a keychain: hideki got a ebi tenpura and i got a yaki onigiri. i also posed the question of ippai vs. ippiki and all of them answered without hesitation "ippai" i was like damn, ya'll know your stuff, yo! ikko also talked about how she went to the wakanohana's (brother of my favorite sumo wrestler, takanohana) resturant. we're plannin' on goin' there soon.
after cleanin' up, we went to go sing karaoke for like an hour or so. then i caught the train and went back to funabashi. on my walk to shin tsudanuma eki, i saw my buddy mark and this girl. when i finally got his attention, he was pretty surprised to see me. he and his friend keiko were just comin' back from watami. when he introduced me to his friend, she was a little confused (like all japanese who first meet me) of what nationality i was. since mark was a little tipsy, he was spoutin' all these things off to his friend about me. the funniest thing being,"kevin may look and be japanese american, but he's really black!" keiko got off @ maebara so mark and i just talked for like 2 min, cuz the next stop is my station.
after arrivin' @ yakuendai, decided to drop by serenade to say hi and have a drink. was totally shocked to see sakamoto there. this was my first time seein' him there. he was with these two other ladies who he introduced me too: mina chan and ito chan. we were there til about 0200 when sakamoto asks me if i wanted to go sing karaoke with them...i was like...ummm...what the heck. i was a little concerned bout mina chan and ito chan...aren't they a little old to be goin' out @ this time?? sakamoto reassured me that it was ok, so we caught a cab to tsudanuma and went to go sing karaoke for 2 hours. after singin', sakamoto insisted that i stay at his place so i agreed. got to his mansion, which was very nice. i got to sleep in kana's (sakamoto's youngest daughter) room because she sleeps with sakamoto and his wife. got to bed @ around 0530.
sunday
after sleeping for maybe 4 hours, woke up and had a grubbin' breakfast made by sakamoto's wife. he asked me if i wanted to go to tokyo with his family to go see the jintai fushigi exbihit. i was like ok whatever so we headed to the tokyo international forum. when we got there, the line was crazy long! i couldn't even see the end of it. we asked how long it would be and the man said about 1 1/2 hours! sakamoto's wife and kids waited in line while we went to look around. tokyo international forum is a modern, relatively new center that resembles makuhari messe in a way. it was a little kimochi warui (sick feelin') seein' actual dead people in this new plastic way of preservation called plastomic the body, organs, etc. i saw everything from muscles, organs, veins, babies, tons of human beings and one of the most interestin' was a full size human, horizontally cut in about 2-3 inch cross sections. the worst thing for me was seein' the eyes and the babies. everything else was ok. for all you doctors out there, ya'll would love this exhibit. it would've been nicer to be able to take able to take my time, but there was so many people...more people than on the weekend night yamanote sen or sobu sen combined. it was even crazier than sanjya matsuri. i would always hear mienai (i can't see) and see people literally pushin' each other. anyhow, sakamoto and i had to head back to funabashi for shacho's bday party @ 1500 @ ikko.
got to ikko @ 1500 and mama was there cookin' up a storm which consisted of: kamo nabe, karaage, butaage, tenpura (nasu, satsuma imo, piman), kabocha, ninniku ika, ninnniku tsunagimo, kim chee, salad and finished the night with miso shiru and onigiri.
shacho came through with some delicious nihon shuu and the slowly people started to come. yuasa sensei, yoko, kobi, ken, kumi, sensei, mori, takahashi, kita, ozaki, junko & jomi all came out throughout the night.
mama & i sang happy birthday to shacho. it was just nice to have these people, all from different walks of life as part of my takinoi/yakuendai family. @ the end of the night, mama went home, so i was left in charge of makin' drinks, etc. as i began washin' all the dishes, kumi san jumped behind the counter to help me out. before we could finish, shacho walked and it's usually my responsibility to walk him home. so i said my goodbyes and took shacho home. pretty much crashed out after gettin' home.
This entry was posted by kaz, on
月曜日, 1月 26, 2004.
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