Bar Scene

Still no internet access at home, so I haven’t uploaded those pictures, but I'm in the process of preparing them for upload, so you will all be able to see my beautiful face again soon. I have settled in well, and I have been making many friends. I might even have to say, it is nearly impossible to NOT make friends here. There is a bar near my house call いたろう (Itaro). The name doesn’t mean anything, but I have already been there a few times. They serve great sushi, fried cheese (my French frog friends would love it) and all kinds of tempura. Every time I go in there I became the celebrity of the moment because I’m a foreigner and everyone is impressed with my Japanese so much that they end up buying me food and drinks. The first time I went there was on the 5th of December, and the results were a little funny. All of the old drunk guys seem to want to communicate, and they all want to know where I am from and what I’m doing here. I made friends with one guy named Kazu, and then another guy stumbled in already drunk enough to piss whiskey, so I talked to him for a while as well until he stumbled back home. I had a few friends in Denver from the west side of Japan, so the western Japanese people here just die laughing when I use the 関西弁 (Kansaiben or western dialect) that I know. That first night, a white haired man on the other side of my new friend Kazu began gesturing to me. He was a little to drunk to even speak Japanese well, but he ended up buying me another drink (coca-cola please). Then, as he was leaving, he sat down 200 Yen (2 dollars) next to me and mumbled a few lines that I didn’t understand much of. The only word I understood was 一緒に (isshoni), and that means “together”. I was a little confused but I was thinking to myself, ‘if this guy wants me to go with him, he had better lay down a little more than two dollars cause I ain`t that cheap, and I don’t swing that way to begin with.’ He ended up stumbling out a few minutes later, and I still didn’t know why he gave me money as he was leaving. The other guys in the bar just said, it’s because he thought you were attractive. I guess it’s like a tip for being so rugged looking. I’m not sure if it’s a gay bar, but when I went there again on the 9th, some old guy bought me my whole dinner. I think its just part of the culture here to make friends here by complimenting people with money and sharing food, but I’m still gonna be careful not to drop my chopsticks when I go in there alone.
That’s all for now.
Ta ta.
Erich von Meatleg