Here is the view once you leave the subway. That is the Nagoya TV tower. I'm told that every city has one. There's a green dot near the top. I didn't get to take a photo but it's actually a point from a laser on the opposite side of the city. I could see the beam over my head, and I couldn't see how far away it's source was. It was an INCREDIBLY powerful laser. I have no idea what it's purpose was though.
That lit up structure on the right is called the Oasis, it's an underground shopping mall, and lots of events take place there on the weekends. So I'll be going in to check that out on one of these Saturday mornings.
Anywho, our first destination was a traditional Japanese restaurant called Yama-chan. We didn't know exactly how to get there so we got to see more of the town while we wandered. That ferris wheel is an attraction for a department store.
I didn't take this photo because of Old Navy. Yeah sure it's interesting that there's a Louis Vitton, followed by a Coach, and then a freaking Old Navy...but this quickly taken photo was about the crosswalk. All driving routes get a red light, and then people can walk across, or diagonal...pretty much anywhere over the intersection. We saw a guy do a flip in the middle of it. No real reason. Cool.
Ah, Yama-chan. As you can see, it is a very skinny restaurant. But quite tall.
We gave them our names, and they took us up to the 4th floor dining area. We put our shoes in our own little shoe lockers, and went in to our table. It was so much fun!!!
This is a pic of right when we were leaving. So the remains. At first, Mr. John and I talked about getting Miso soup or something as an appetizer. We got some strange looks as a reply. We quickly became introduced to what one does when one is out to dinner with friends on the weekend. You order 5 to 8 appetizer plate sized dishes (enough that each person can have 1-2 pieces of whatever is on the plate), along with drinks for everyone. After you've drunk a ton and ate a ton, you order 5-8 more dishes and more drinks. Repeat this process 3-4 times. After this amazingly delicious process, many were stuffed and many were drunk. It's not polite to leave remaining food if someone else has paid for the meal, so we all made sure to eat and drink everything right up.
I got to eat a lot of things I already knew I loved (pork skewers, meatballs, sashimi
......Tacoyaki is still my favorite), and lots of things I'd never tried before. Some delicious cabbage, raddish, an interesting asian salad, a delicious tomato dish, fish intestine,....and the notorious natto.
......Tacoyaki is still my favorite), and lots of things I'd never tried before. Some delicious cabbage, raddish, an interesting asian salad, a delicious tomato dish, fish intestine,....and the notorious natto.
Here's what natto looks like.
It's fermented soybeans mixed with some sort of very stringy-mucus looking stuff. It gives off a very...pungent odor. But other than that, it tasted fine to me. There wasn't anything at dinner that tasted bad. It was all delicious!!! Ms. Mihoko was incredibly nice and generous to treat us all to such a great dinner!
All businesses have a place to hang your umbrella at the entrance.
It was sprinkling as we walked to our next destination. There's Mr. John, an English teacher from Australia. My Australian accent impressions have gotten much better thanks to this gentleman.
Ah, Joy Joy Karaoke!!!!! (Kah-Rah-Oh-Keh)
It's located 2 buildings away from ferris wheel store.
Helloooo! I'm in a tiny little bathroom in the Karaoke bar!!!! How-dee-dooooooo!
Ms. Mihoko objected, but we all insisted we help pay for the small karaoke room we rented for 2 hours. Along with the room, you got free access to soft drinks as well as....not so soft drinks.
Like with the restaurant, it was a tall thin building yet again. We were on the 3rd or 4th floor.
It was 10pm by now, so another teacher, Ms. Jakka, had finished her other job. She came to join us!
Karaoke is soooo much fun in this atmosphere!
Ah....Ms. Minori got a hold of my camera. Here I am putting in my karaoke request number.
Ms. Minori and Ms. Jakka having an awesome time.
Can I have my camera back puh-lease?
We sang lots. I sang Bohemian Rhapsody, Rolling in the Deep, Cranberries, .....lots.
From left to right, Ms. Jayshell, Ms. Minori, Ms. Jakka, Ms. Julpha, Ms. Mihoko, and Mr. John.
Ah. Mr. John got really into it, it was awesome.
Partyyyyyyy
So...we had to leave earlier than expected, due to train schedules and such. So a few people had to run off in one direction, a few went the other....and so forth.
I labeled this street "Karaoke Street" because every other building was a karaoke building.
That blue one, the one to the left of it, both karaoke.
This red one was the one we went to.
After karaoke, we had a few more small adventures that led off into the morning. It was a very very fun night, and I am most definitely going to be going into the city more now. There were so many things I wanted to stop and check out. And it only costs 580 yen round trip ($6)! A very, VERY nice price when you think about it.
No comments:
Post a Comment