As the blog title suggests, on Friday night I decided to check out a new (to me) foreigner bar, and it ended up being a great decision!
Foreigner bars always have a nice mix of ex-pats, plus some local Japanese who can speak English. It feels absolutely decadent to walk into a place and order a beer without gesturing, pointing at a picture, or mumbling through an unfamiliar language! I made a new friend and met some interesting people from Australia, England, America, Canada, UK, and of course, Japan.
They only have one beer on draught, but luckily it's good (Sapporo) and is on special all month. Beer seems to be the only thing they don't serve in small glasses in Japan! Fridays are called "Spin the Wheel Night". After each drink you order, you get a chip to place on the mini Roulette table. They spin the wheel, and if it hits your lucky number you get your drink for free! (There are also discounts if it hits on a number of the same color, double zero, or the number directly next to yours.) It's super cheesy, but I like anything that makes me feel like I'm gambling.
My favorite part of the night was watching the Olympics with everyone in the bar. Men's figure skating was riveting. Oh wait, I'm sorry, a loud crazy woman from the UK actually corrected me and said it was "men's ice dance"! Silly me for getting it confused!! There was no sound for the commentary since there was music playing in the bar, so we instead had fun guessing what country each man was from based on his looks, outfit (sequins or ruffles), and dance moves. One guy was particularly "interesting", and we pegged him for Russian or Eastern European. However, when they scanned the crowd, I saw several American flags!! I was so embarrassed to tell everyone that he was representing the United States. They thought this was a great revelation!! There was plenty of reason to celebrate in the bar since USA took gold (not the crazy guy we were making fun of) and Japan took bronze in this event.
I also forgot how much I love sarcasm. I rarely use it any more since no one "gets" it, but in the foreigner bar I was back to my usual habits.
After a few beers and lots of fun, I had lost track of time. At about 23:44 I asked everyone what time the last subway runs, and they said 23:50!! But they also assured me that if I left immediately, I could still make it. LOL. So I felt like a true Japanese person running through the streets, down the stairs, and through the subway wicket in order to make it on the last train. I actually hopped on the 23:56 train, so I'm guessing the last train runs at midnight. Maybe I should find out for sure for next time... Anyway, I also discovered that the last few subway trains are busier than rush hour!! It was packed with people not wanting to spend money on cab fare. My new bar friends suggested before I left that I ride my bike next time instead. Uh, yeah... apparently they don't know that I barely have enough coordination to ride my bike sober and in broad daylight. I don't think it's a wise idea to try it on a dark night after several beers ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment