Tripping Far Side

TGIF! Friday after work was a hell a of a good time!

Paul took us to Aho for dinner. A curious name for a restaurant since it means "stupid" in Japanese. To get there from Shijo station (on subway), go east until you see the Starbucks. Take a left down the alley, walk for a bit, then take a right at the next big street. Then, a short ways down, it's on the left. I'm writing this down so I can remember how to get back here.

Hashida, Paul, and Yumiko ordered some awesome choices. Let's see, we started with this corn-flavored tofu topped with sea urchin and wasabi. Then we had awesome sashimi. Hashida could tell it was really fresh. He said one trick is to dip the sashimi in soy sauce, and the sauce won't stick if the fish is oily, so it's really good. We had tori kara-age, and also some deep-fried pork-wrapped roll, among other things.

But the kicker is the delicacies. We had some raw horse and whale. They brought out whale tongue, whale skin, whale meat, and whale bacon. Am I gonna burn in hell?

Okada-san, Tsuji-san, and Wada-san joined us to go the next restaurant. It's at the beginning of Teramachi on Shijo side called Mugen. Downstairs, the restaurant played some awesome rock music, and we had a flirty waitress named Ai-chan. To start of course was beers for everyone, and edamame.

Now, there's a game here. Someone plays the waitress in junken (rock-paper-scissors), and if the waitress wins, then she chooses how much edamame to serve. If that someone wins, then he can take as much edamame in one scoop as possible. And somehow, I got picked to play. So in squaring off against Ai-chan, I got lucky after the 3rd tie, and won. A fun way to kick-start the night.

We all drank a lot. Tokunaga-san joined us that night too!! Good people, good beer, good food, good conversations will bring about a good time. Of course, there was flirting with the waitress. Of course, we gave each other good ribbings. Of course, there was arm wrestling involved. Of course there was a torch involved in cooking the vinegar-cured mackerel at the table.

The next destination was karaoke until 6 AM (yes, again!). On the way, why not play some soccer? :) And at karaoke, one of the most memorable karaoke nights I've had. I have a lot of pics, but too bad I can only post up a few per post here. Let me know if you want some copies.

On the way back to Osaka, I had to stop off at Jujo Station to ahem, "feel better". That makes it the first time doing it at a train station. I have a story about doing it while inside the train, so I'm improving. :)