Japanese Idol (kyoto, 5/4/2008)

karaoke in japan really is different. and kinda weird. unlike the american version, you rent a small room (by the hour), set up with all the equipment, and sing only to the folks in your group. it still is a bar, and you can order food and drinks (to be delivered to your little room), but the stakes really aren't the same as singing to a bar full of strangers. and the group of people you know who are going to harass you to no end.

it should also be noted that they must have every song by brittney spears, but nothing from either tom petty or johnny cash. they certainly aren't catering to americans.

the song books include 20 pages for songs in english, with the rest of the book devoted to chinese and korean songs. and another book dedicated to japanese songs (which include the japanese language versions of american songs).

When in Kyoto... A Gastric Adventure (Kyoto)

First off, Happy Birthday to Kosuke today. He's old. He may die soon.

ok, ok, enough of that now. back to our regularly scheduled program:

So, there's all kinds of foreign aspects to Japan, but we'll start with the food. It really is an adventure in and of itself.

Several restaurants make you pre-purchase tickets for your meal. This is apparently to cut down on the timeless 'dine and dash.' So, you go to a vending machine to buy your ticket, and trade that for food at the counter. It's odd, but if the vending machines have pictures (some do), it makes the whole experience a lot easier for a foriegner.

For lunch today we had ramen. yes, ramen. it's kind of a big deal here, and rightfully so - it's a hell of a lot better than what we get freeze-dried at kroger (or albertson's, or safeway, or giant eagle, or marsh, or where ever you may shop. IGA, perhaps.).

We also enjoyed soy flavored treats, as well as green tea ice cream while walking Kyoto, and finished up at a japanese restaurant.

Kosuke's friends took care of the ordering, which was good because the menu was entirely unreadable to me (and Chris, I would imagine), and included no pictures. This is really the way to go, because it's likely that the pictures would not have convinced me to order anything. Plus, they're Japanese, so they know what's good.

While at dinner we had various vegetables, rice, a sort of japanese hamburger (hamburgu), fish, octopus, squid (little, whole ones), duck, chicken, and something fish smelling that out waitress spilled down my back. It was really hot. On the bright side, I got two free beers out of it (futatsu namachu). Sugoi!

Kyoto (Kyoto, 5/3/2008)

waking up today, chris asked about the time. kosuke told him it was happy hour, and was entirely correct. in bloomington. it was 8 am in japan. this will definately take some getting used to.

while walking around today, kosuke was telling us about octopus. eating it. he explained that it was probably the texture that would bother us, which he described as "chewy, octopus-like." thanks kosuke.

on the subject of food (ood, as a japanese would pronounce it), everything here is flavored with: fish, soybean, or green tea. this includes, but is not limited to, cookies, candy, and ice cream. seriously. trust me, i've tried each.