Last saturday after working at Pastries in the hotel I was invited to Saito-san’s home, he’s a REALLY kewl guy who has become my best friend in the hotel so far, well besides the GM who have treated me really well and very friendly, he’s young and very nice, and seems he knows how to handle the interpersonal relationships really well, to keep respect and to offer friendliness at the same time.
So after pastry work I walked to the cake shop and bought a cake for Saito-san as a thank you gift for inviting me to his home. While walking something weird happened, but I wrote about that already on my previous post.
So After buying the cake and coming back to the hotel, I meet Saito-san in the employees parking lot. He was waiting for me already, it was 6pm.
I hopped into the car and said hello, and the first thing i see is this LCD screen on the dashboard, I’ve seen some of those around a lot, and I’ve been wondering what are they for. Well I asked saito and he told me it was the car 「ﾅﾋﾞ」 nabi or navigation, he turned it on and i was amazed, GPS navigation with very kewl graphics kinda in 3D, very nicely done, seems they have very good mapping of the roads in Japan.
So he drove to his home, but on the way he picked up one of his coworkers, I don’t remmeber her name, but was a nice lady. We got to his home, it was set up on top of a small hill, we were greeted by his wife. We came in and of course removed our shoes.
Well, they have to beautiful kids, very well behaved and seemed very happy. We had dinner, first Raw bonito [katsuo] （鰹） fish marinated in soy/vinegar sauce with some fresh herbs on top long white stem and green leaves. Also we had tube shaped fish cake paste [chikuwa] （竹輪）with cuccumber (sounds weird but it’s yummy). And also had rolled pork filled with cheese, has very western feel.
We drank asahi beer and Shochu
——————————————————————————–
Shochu is a traditional Japanese distilled spirit, the Japanese aqua vitae. There are two types, Ko and Otsu.
The standard type shochu, Otsu, is made from mainly rice, sweet potatoes, rye, corn, or raw sugar, and is distilled in pot stills. The main ingredient in In Ko-type shochu is molasses.
Both types use malted rice for fermentation, and depending on the brand and where it is produced, the alcohol content varies from 40 to 90 proof (20 to 45 percent ABV), although the average is around 50 proof (25% ABV). (not to be confused with Shoyu which is soy sauce).
I ended up playing Playstation 2 with one of his kids and talking with his daughter and wife for a long time. I had a VERY good time.
When it was time to leave he dropped me at a train stop, where we met with some of their friends, I thought they were driving to the dorms, but I was wrong, they were driving to a bar, to drink MORE beer, and eat some other stuff that I don’t remember the name. The bar had tatami mats all over and the rice paper sliding doors, it was a very nice experience, and I had fun.