Day 11: Shimoda Party

NIHONGO

     The morning I decided to start with Japanese language. I went downstairs hoping to see some Japanese people with whom I could practice some Nihongo (Japanese language). Luckily, Masa was there, and he was happy as usually to help me out. 

      I taught him Russian alphabet. Japanese language doesn't have as many sounds as Russian does. But Japanese people are really good in writing, as they have to memorize thousands of Kanji (signs). They actually have to memorize not only kanji itself, but also stroke order in kanji. For some European student I had writing Russian alphabet was not that easy, but Masa easily copied all the letters that I wrote. He was only writing it in a little strange way, but the letters looked perfect. 

     In our dorm many devices talk to residents. For example water heater tells you something, elevator tells you something. I couldn't understand what they say, thus I asked Masa to translate it for me. Turned out, that the elevator was saying something "Please be careful, doors are closing(opening). Thank you" and floor numbers. The water heater in the bathroom was telling me not to forget to plug the bath before I turn on the water so that I don't lose water. Really funny stuff. 

Shimoda party

    Shimoda students village was having a party for exchage students today. So we went there of course... Hehe. For 500 JPY (4 euro) you got a name tag, snacks and unlimited alcohol. Unlimited alcohol was quite a fun one: 5 liter plastic bottles of whiskey, some Japanese beer with fruit flavors and 3% alcohol, juices, tequila and vodka. Mostly international students were there, however few Japanese also joined. In a while some of the students-organizers from Japanese side were out sleeping on the chairs. 

      We went quite strong with many "bottom-ups". The party started at 7 and at 9:30 organizers started to kick us out. It took around half an hour but they managed it. It was really fun but short party with magic whiskey that hits straight to head.

KAROKE

        Some students headed to the center of Tokyo to a club. We decided to stay around Hiyoshi and a Japanese student purposed to take us to Karaoke. Japanese Karaoke!!! Yeahhhh

     The Karaoke place was open till 5 in the morning and we arrived there around 12. We were split into groups (6-7 people per group). We stayed in our awesome CEMS group. The deal was: 10 Euro per person for 2 hours unlimited singing and one non-alcoholic drink included. There were many songs in English. On top of English words you could see Katakana (Japanese characters used for words taken from English). The remote control for choosing songs was complex as it's menu was completely in Japanese (mostly in Kanji) and we didn't have our master of Kanji (Larry) with us... 

       Somehow we managed to figure it out and had lot's of fun, especially singing Gangnam Style and some other songs, we have never heard before. 

      When we were leaving, the place still seemed busy. Many rooms were still occupied by Japanese singers. Seemed like there was only one guy there working, doing all sorts of activities from bringing drinks to cash desk. 

RAMEN 

      Hiyoushi station is famous for its Ramen restaurants. Ramen is a soup with with noodles and often with meat or seafood. We were considering visiting Mc'Donalds, but our Japanese guide suggested to visit a ramen restaurant. 

      Imagine, 15 foreigners coming in a small ramen restaurant in the middle of the night (also drunk). To get ramen, you had to pay at a special machine at the entrance and then take a seat at a bar. The bar is built around the kitchen, so while sitting at the bar you can watch how everything is cooked. The workers seemed really friendly and happy to see us. For 600 JPY (5 Euro) we each received a huge plate of delicious Ramee soup and a bowl of rice to it. Few guys who didn't order anything also got some food for free. What a great place and great hospitality! The soup was really delicious and filling, exactly what we all needed after a drunken night. 

     I worked in a restaurant before in Russia and I know that employees and cooks are never happy, when a group of people comes in the middle of the night and orders something. I know that Japanese culture is absolutely different and based on mutual respect. Japanese workers of Ramen restaurant showed great hospitality, but I am still wondering, if it was on the outside only. What were they thinking? "Stupid foreigners came here, why!!!" or they didn't think this way... Hope that by the end of this Japanese journey I will be able to understand people here a lot better.