Japanese Experiences

Let me start this post with the most exciting news -  as I write, I am wearing a sweatshirt, long pants, and socks...and I am still cold! Woohoo!!!...the heat wave seems to be over for the moment, and I could not be more relived!

This week the family of Jason's host at the university has gone out of their way to once again give us some great experiences in Japan. Sunday night they took us to a conveyor belt sushi restaurant outside of the city center. Jason, the biggest seafood lover of our family, was especially appreciative to have native speakers help him order some really amazing sushi. He says he's afraid he'll never be able to eat sushi in the US again. Meanwhile, I had some delicious seared salmon nigiri and Fiona nearly ate her weight in cucumber maki...in addition to this super embarrassing order she placed...

Leave it to the table with Americans to order the "Hamburg Nigiri." Yep, that's right, basically Japanese sliders! She loved them.

At some point, we ordered something with salmon roe which resulted in this performance:

Fiona doesn't even love roe, but kept asking to order more because she wanted to see the performance again. We had a great time all around!

Monday was rainy so Yoko offered to take us to do one of the things Fiona has been BEGGING to do since we got here - karaoke! There are places everywhere advertising with signs screaming, "KARAOKE!," but that's where the English ends. I couldn't even begin to figure out where or how to take her. I can't tell you how excited she was when Yoko offered. She has a small karaoke machine at home that she uses constantly, so I think she was expecting something along those lines...she had no idea what she was in for!

Yoko and her son met us at our apartment and we made our way to this place - which we've walked past nearly daily, but never known was a karaoke spot. As we walked in, I was again SO thankful for Yoko's hospitality. There is not a chance I ever could have navigated this process without her!

After signing in (and some other discussion I didn't follow), we were handed a slip with a number on it...the number corresponded to our very own studio room!

This girl was on cloud nine! She karaoked for two and a half HOURS! She let poor Yoko's son have a few turns, and forced me into a couple of duets, but otherwise it was a Fiona concert:

We finished with a group rendition of 'Let it Go.' We were awesome. You can just take my word for it...

I thought the fun was over when karaoke ended, but much to Fiona's delight, Yoko had more fun in store. Bowling!

Fiona has been candlestick bowling in Boston (which was completely new to me at the time), but this was her first experience with the type of bowling I knew as a kid. She was all business...

After two games of bowling, she moved on to her first ever game of foosball. She obviously loved it.

Next we moved down stairs where there was an extensive...game room? I'm not sure what it was. There was a big wheel you had to spin around, then a certain colored ball popped out, and I guess based on color you got a certain number of tokens...?

And then you took the tokens to these highly addictive games where you could use them to try to win more tokens. Do places like this exist in the US, and I'm just not aware of them? There are at least half a dozen of these kids of places within walking distance of our apartment. Clearly from the arm pump below, Fiona was totally into it. Perhaps I should start putting a little money away each month for gamblers anonymous?...

We had a such a fun day! And a day we never could have navigated on our own. We are so thankful for such wonderful hosts during our time here!