Friend Day

Today JT and I got to have a small non-adventure in the morning (I took us to what I thought was a hyaku-en shop... but it was a hyaku-en car rental place... errrr).

In the afternoon we met Limor and Jake (surprise!) for lunch. We met them at Shin-Ookubo station and went to a katsu place. It was SO FUN to catch up with them! I think JT was a bit scarred afterwards though... we are a fairly open bunch, lol.

In the evening, we went to dinner with a former student of mine. We met her at Ueno Station and went to get sushi. She ordered SO MUCH. JT and I were sort of inwardly panicking at the price of the meal, but she paid for it! (Actually her friend did... it made us feel all sorts of awkward! I'm glad that I brought her a gift!)

Funny story: So, the very first nigiri-sushi that JT and I tried was the ebi (shrimp). I'd not had it raw before and was nervous but I always say I'll try something once. It was actually offered to me while I was living in Japan. I guess luckily I was full as that one had to be dug out of the shell. In any case, I was steeling myself for the experience. JT went first. I looked at him and asked, "How was it?" under my breath. "Not bad." Whew... oh wait, JT IS A LIAR! Oh man, I had to rip that thing out of it's shell with my teeth and I kept chewing and chewing and it wasn't breaking apart or going away. I felt like I was turning green. I was taking deep and slow breaths through my nose and this ball of mushy, sinewy, ebi was just globbed in the center of my mouth. I had to pretend I wasn't about to ralph (and there were a few close moments), and I just tried and tried and TRIED to chew some of it off to swallow. The longer it sat in my mouth, the less I felt I could finish it. I decided I just had to swallow the whole thing. I was afraid it would lodge in my throat and I'd throw it back up. (As I explained this later to JT on the subway I told him, "Can you imagine if I puked it all up? Um, excuse me our sushi is covered in vomit. Pretty sure it came that way." He was laughing so hard I thought he was going to pee his pants. So I had to follow it up with, "There's vomit on my chin and then *pointing to him* 'He did it!'") Luckily I was able to swallow the entire thing. Yeesh. Everything else was great other than the uni (sea urchin). So yay for good sushi and boo to the disgusting texture of others! HAHAHA

Today was another great day in Japan!