Japanese night out

I thought I would highlight some of the finer points of Japanese culture with examples from last night's outing.

JANKEN

This is what is know as "rock paper scissors" in the US. In Japan it is called Janken and it is law. Everything from where to go to dinner to who the winner of a game is is decided by this game and everyone knows that what janken decides go. I am pretty sure that Abe sometimes uses it to make policy decisions.

THE PEACE SIGN

I do not know why Japanese people make the peace sign in every single photo but they do. I suppose Japan is a fairly peaceful country.

MEAT ON A STICK

Various meat on a stick is popular in Japan (and delicious, I might add). But one must be careful for one does not always know what one is getting. I have made the mistake more than once of just pointing to the menu and hoping for the best and that resulted in me eating chicken heart, pig cheek and cow tongue. Mmmmm.... last night was just chicken though.

THE FOREIGNER BAR

This is perhaps not part of Japanese culture but rather, part of MY Japanese culture. No good night out would be complete without a trip to Apre, the foreigner bar. However, since they have recently changed locations, I am not sure that that tradition will continue. The western style toilets in the new place are not nearly as nice as the ones in the old place and, let's face it, that was a big draw for me.