Hideharu san

Last night we had a fantastic pasta dinner. 3 bowls of pasta each with different sauces, somen salad with sashimi, fried calamari, fried potatoes (french fries), sparkling white wine, and plum liqueur! Great googly moogly I'm getting spoiled with the food out here. During and after dinner, I had a great conversation with Hide san, my host father. He's been pretty busy lately, so it was good to talk to him. Here are some of the things we discussed:

-My drinking habits. I explained to him and Yoko san about what beer pong is. I also explained that Thursday and Friday nights are the favorite nights to have parties at UCLA.

-His drinking habits. It is very very customary for nihonjin (Japanese people) to go drinking after work on, you guessed it, Thursday and Friday nights (we're not so different after all!).

-In fact, I asked him where he was Thursday night because I didn't see him at all before I went to sleep. It turns out, he went drinking with his co-workers after work, got pretty drunk, and then came home on the last train! That means he was probably out until around 12:30 at night or so! All of this with a full work day ahead of him.

-He explained to me that in Japan, there is a certain amount acceptance of people being hung over the next day at work, because everyone does it. They all just joke around with each other saying "oooo I know YOU went drinking last night".

-I told him how I was surprised that you can drink in public in Japan. He explained to me that it even used to be legal to drink on the trains! If workers had a long train ride back home, they'd ride the train while drinking a fatty can of beer! But apparently, people started fighting too much on the trains because they were drunk, so they outlawed it. He said people still do it though, they just keep their drinks in their pockets or purses, and sip discreetly.

-He explained to me gocon. Gocon is a kind of blind dating that young Japanese people do. Basically, people will gather all their sad, lonely, single friends and set up a group blind date at a restaurant or izakaya (a japanese bar of sorts). They typically eat, drink, do karaoke and exchange phone numbers. Yoko san seemed pretty entertained by Hide san telling me about all this.

-I already knew Hideharu went to college in Michigan for awhile. But he told me that he used to STOCK his room with tons of whisky, beer, wine coolers, and gin and charge people $10 for all they could drink. He said he used to get a lot of minors...and that with the money, he would go eat.... TACO BELL!!!!

-At this point I'm beginning to like Hide san more and more.

-Hide san is also studying English right now. He is actually pretty good, but as most Japanese, he struggles with distinguishing between "R" and "L" as well as "S" and "Sh". He proceeded to show me one of his study sheets, where he was studying how to pronounce "Pirate" and "Pilot". If any of my campus tour guide friends are reading this right now, you should understand why this is hilarious.

-He showed me that his cell phone can watch basic TV...for only $3 a month.

-Yoko san told me that the first ever Forever 21 just opened up in Harajuku. Hide san said that it is HUGE. Yoko san said she went on her own to go shopping, but never got in because the lines are enormous.

-I told them that Harajuku fashion (harajuku girls) has become somewhat popular in America. They asked if I liked the style. I replied no. They agreed. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, the Harajuku fashion is just bizarre. Not a fan.

-The Quarter Pounder with Cheese just arrived in Japan.

-In Japan, late night movies are shown on discount, instead of early matinee movies like in America. This is because the trains shut down at around 12:30 or so. If you want to watch a late movie, you probably have to either walk the whole way or drive yourself. So they discount it to encourage people to go. But there are apparently movie theaters in Roppongi (the area of Tokyo popular for Westerners and western style culture) that stay open 24/7.

-I am fascinated by how scarcity of land affects Japanese lifestyles in so many ways. First off, obviously no one drives around hardly because there are no parking lots to park at. But Hide san was also explaining to me that when he and Yuki go play tennis, it will cost them 1500 Yen an hour, which is about $15....even at public courts!


Well...I'm about to go explore Tokyo on my own for the whole day, so expect another post later on. Hope you enjoyed the cultural lessons from Hide san.