After shaking away some cobwebs from the previous nights festivities I arrived late at my friend Adam’s basketball game in Ozone. Adam I may have mentioned before is a former NBA player from UC Irvine who now plays professional basketball for the Mitsubishi Dolphins based in Nagoya. Although I arrived at the start of the 4th quarter I got to see a bit of the game as the Dolphins got a win at home. I met up with Ryan, Alyanna and Darlene at the game and from there we headed over to the Nagoya Dome (home of the Chunichi Dragons) next door where a large Ski and Snowboard Expo was going on. Although I am not a skier or snowboarder the rest of the group checked out the gear ahead of there Christmas break trip to Nagano. After departing I left everyone picked up some Christmas gifts at the Dragons shop at the stadium before heading across the street to the large mall in Ozone. The strange thing about malls here in Japan is they are almost entirely clothing and shoe stores. This I guess is not strange since fashion is highly important for both men and woman here in Japan, the good part for me is due to the size issues I never have to concern myself with blowing 200 bucks (20,000 yen) on a fresh pair of sneakers since a 9 or a 10 is the largest you are likely to find. The good part of the day was locating a Subway inside the mall that had previously evaded me. As I keep saying the food here is extraordinary but sandwiches especially like those like Subway makes are quite a rare thing. I am happy to report that they do however have Tuna on Whole Wheat which was every bit as good as you find in the States. I happily treated myself to a 15 cm (damn the Metric System) sandwich (Just saying foot long is so much easier) before heading back to Kasugai. Monday I traveled to Nagoya again to meet Kerin and my new co teacher, Samantha. We had dinner at the Hub in Nagoya before heading over to an Aussie Bar called Red Rock where we met up with about 10 other friends who were there to celebrate Ryan’s birthday. The great news is Sam seems real cool and already I think we are going to get along great. Also since Sam attended International High School in Japan she just might be able to punch up my weak Japanese. As has become regular custom myself, Kerin, Ryan and Sam hit the Backbeat on Friday to catch up with Kazuhiko and Mikka as well as have them meet our new teacher. Sam did herself proud with our friends, as Kazuhiko was highly impressed with Sam’s ability to put away an Ashai or two. On Saturday after work the whole crew from work took Samantha and Kerin out for a welcome to Japan and goodbye to Japan dinner at a restaurant called Ogatshi across the street from school. Again hanging with the fellow teachers outside of work was real fun as we talked over some excellent Japanese dishes I had yet to try that were served family style. My two favorites were omu rice which is a spicy seasoned rice covered with cooked egg (Omelet-rice) as well as a dish in the “tastes much better than it sounds department”, Tarako Spaghetti which is a creamy pasta made with small cod roe (fish eggs). Although the group was heading out for some karaoke action following dinner I had to call it a night since I am to board a 7am Shinkansen train to meet my friends in Tokyo Disneyland tomorrow.
My New Nickname This week at school I was finishing up for the night when I went to retrieve some items from one of the classrooms. As I walked by a group of pre teen girls and said hello one of the bolder girls smiled at me and greeted me by saying “Hello Kewpie” as the other girls began giggling and holding their hands up to their mouths. As I retrieved my stuff I went by again as she again say in English “See ya Kewpie”. When I explained this to the Japanese teachers they all thought the name was pretty hilarious as apparently Japanese kewpie dolls are bald, cherubic dolls with large eyes. Although my friend Sayaka explained really it might be a compliment since it could mean she thinks I have pretty eyes I am not so sure. As you can see from the photo at the top of the blog perhaps I bear a slight resemblance.
Do You Want to Upsize Your Sandwich Most Americans are only too familiar with the “Supersize” feature one finds at fast food establishments. In Japan at Subway you are asked if you would like to “upsize” your sandwich for 100 yen with some cocktail shrimp. I am not sure that will catch on in the States, “Do you want cocktail shrimp on that Cold Cut Combo”? We will have to wait and see.
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