Today begins a three day run here at the Kencho and then I am off for two weeks. A day off on the Emperor's birthday (the 23rd), then Hokkaido bound for 6 days, and then back for a week of relaxation and Japanese New Year fun. Gonna be good.

We went out with Yamashita a couple weeks ago. This time he brought his wife and youngest son along for a half day of shopping. I was glad little Massa came as he and I tend to act like big brother/little brother or crazy uncle/hyperactive nephew when we get together. He's eight years old and fun to be around. Our past antics include wrestling sumo style, lessons on the finer art of American football tackling, throwing pinecones at each other in order to make the walk back to the car more exciting, and speaking to each other in our native tongues so that the other has no clue as to what's being said. I've requested that Yamashita send him to America for visits when Amy and I get back but I'm not sure if this will happen. Might wait till he's a little older. Be nice if it happens as living in, or at the very least, visiting other countries is key to education and an appreciation for the "other".
Anyway, we had a great day and ended up back at their house for our usual evening of feasting and drinking. During our discussion of winter vacation they insisted that Amy and I come back just after the New Year so that we can spend the day eating traditional Japanese New Year food, drinking nihonshu (what you call sake), and walking down to the local shrine to partake in hatsumode (I think that's how you'd spell it--it means the first visit to the shine of the new year). I did all this last year with the Yamashitas but Amy was in Oklahoma and undoubtedly didn't eat fish eggs and seaweed, drink sake, or visit a shrine around the New Year holiday. I think she'll like it--well, maybe not the fish eggs.

On Friday evening we had our Kencho bonenkai (bo meaning forget, nen meaning year, and kai meaning party). It started at a hotel in a conference room where we ate appetizers, drank beer and sake, and played bingo for gifts.
Bingo seems to be a bonenkai institution. I played it at at both the Kencho's and Yuda's parties last year, Amy played it at her school's party, and I know of a couple friends that said they also play it at their bonenkais. I'm not sure why this is but it is.
The other staple of the bonenkai tradition seems to be the way they assign seating. You simply walk in, draw a number out of an envelope, and then find the corresponding place. At Yuda's party last year I ended up sitting with a bunch of strangers who didn't speak English. They were all very nice people and although I appreciated their hospitality, after a while it became a real effort trying to make myself understood and trying to understand them. When you don't speak the same language, communication on even the simple things becomes quite difficult and arduous. I don't know how many of you have had your hands tied for any length of time in regards to language but after a while you tend to just want to go home and talk to your turtles (or I do--from time to time).
At last year's Kencho party I ended up sitting at the end of one of the tables across from no one and next to a lawyer whom I'd never seen before because he doesn't work in this office but was at the party because he is somehow affiliated with us. But it was lucky for me because he speaks very good English and we got along extremely well. Then later in the evening, one of the office girls pulled her chair over so she could sit with me and the lawyer. Guess we looked like we were having fun.
Ok, so back to this year where I got even more lucky because I was once again put near the end of the table and was surrounded by all the best speakers of English at the party--Miharu, Naito-san, the lawyer again, and one of the guys in the office who is currently taking English classes and seems willing to try it out on me from time to time. I can't stress enough to you how great this was. Being surrounded by these four made my evening a lot more fun than it would have otherwise been. And this is meant at no knock to the rest of the people in the office--they are all very nice people--but it just meant that I could joke around and be myself more rather than a guy who sits there and has to be overly polite all evening. It is really amazing how much we depend on language. Think about this the next time you go out for dinner and talk to the waiter about what's good, or run to the grocery store and ask the clerk how she's doing as she scans your six-pack and toilet paper just because you are in a good mood, or when you tell the lady at the bank that you want $300 in travelers checks and $500 tranfered to your saving account while you're at it. Language is the glue, baby, strong as epoxy.
Anyway, getting back to Bingo....we were all handed a card as we walked in and took our seating numbers. They were standard cards with five rows of five numbers and the middle space being a free one. At the front of the room was a long table with the prizes. Watanabe-san, my supervisor, was obviously in charge of putting the bonenkai together as it was he who started the whole party with a few words--followed by the main boss, followed by some guy I'd seen only once before at last year's party who gave the kanpai (almost the equivilent of "cheers" in the States) speech--and at the beginning of the game he introduced all the prizes. They ranged from the "number one gift," an IPOD, to gift certificates for various department stores, to two DVDs of Harry Potter, to a couple of plants, to a foot care package, to a large electric heater, to small blankets, to two tickets to Disneyland in Tokyo. And there were probably a few other things that I am forgetting. Oh, and there was a haircurler (or a heated comb as I call them when around Amy--she had to educate me on their true name). I turned to Miharu and told her, "Well, I hope I don't get that," indicating the haircurler to which she answered, "Ah, but a good gift for your girlfriend," and laughed whileI told her, "Yes, I like the way you think."
I didn't want the haircurler for obvious reasons, but I also had two other gifts that I really didn't want. One was the IPOD, believe it or not, because you might remember that last year I won the Playstation2. My thinking here was that last year I'd won an expensive gift and that it should be someone else's turn. Don't want to be the guy that comes here for a couple years and snatches up all the good stuff and then goes home, you know. So I didn't want that. The other thing I really didn't want was the heater because, for one, I don't really need it in my apartment, but mostly because it was quite large and I had no idea how I'd get the thing home on my bike. That would be a slow and difficult task possibly fraught with a few crashes, some blood, and a lot of pain. Not something I wanted to do.
So we played Bingo. Now the way the prizes work was just like last year. You don't get Bingo and then choose what you want, no that would be too easy. Instead you get Bingo and then take a number from an envelope and get the correspondingly numbered gift. I was probably about the eighth person, out of about 25 to 30, to get a Bingo and went up to claim my prize. Unfortunately, the IPOD and the heater were still there, but fortunately, the heated comb was not. Nope, that went to the number two in command of this office--a roughly 50 year old man with the typically straight hair parted on the side that you see on politicians, news anchors, business men, and military officers--not a man who looks like he'll use the tool much. In fact, as I look over to his desk today, yup, still has the straight hair. Perhaps he wrapped it up and gave it to his wife.
So as I reached into the envelope I had a pretty good chance of not getting the heater or the IPOD because there were still many gifts left. But as you might have guessed from my extensive build-up of all this, I got one of them....the heater. And the thing was kinda heavy. Everyone clapped and I turned around to face them and said, "How am I going to get this home? I'm on my bike," which some of the English speakers translated for the others and a volly of ganbattes ("try hard" "good luck") were thrown in my direction. "Thanks, guys," I thought, "Thanks a lot."
But all ended up ok. Turns out that we were allowed to trade gifts. After everything had been claimed Watanabe told us to trade if we could find a good one so I looked around the room trying to see if anyone was eyeing my heater. "I'm open to anything except that damn haircurler," I thought, "But then again, that would be easier to get home." But, after a little searching around the room and networking through Miharu, Naito and I agreed to a trade whereby he would get my heater and I would get his blanket and a second round draft pick at next year's bonenkai. Jokes on him, though, as I won't be here. Ha ha.
After the initial party some of us went to a "number two party" at some little bar where we drank more beer and sake and ate more appetizers. The "gross out the foreigner" food of the night was had at this place when someone ordered up a plate of small but whole squids in an ink sauce that tasted fresh from the sea. And I mean fresh. It smelled like a fishing boat. And I don't think the squids were cooked. Just whole and on a plate in the sauce. Of course, I don't shy away from such challenges and was the first to dip in with my chopsticks, grab a squid and pop in my mouth. Those around me watched as I chewed and swallowed probably thinking to themselves, "Watch his eyes, watch his eyes!" But actually it wasn't bad. Not really good either, but not bad. I'd eat it again, but not a whole plateful. Two or three would be enough if I was a little hungry. Funny thing was that Miharu dipped in and nearly spit it out. She had to take a few gulps of beer to get it down and I teased her saying, "What's wrong, Miharu?" "Eewww, bad taste," she told me. Then I chided her saying that she was Japanese and was supposed to like such things. "No no," she said, "very bad taste."
After this bar we went to two more and eventually the party ended. I don't know what time I got home but I woke up the next morning feeling pretty good considering all the beer and sake I'd poured down. In Japan getting a bit drunk is accepted in a way it is not in the States (one of the reasons I like it here). As long as you maintain some control and just have fun, all is good. I think in the States we still have a lot of the Puritan about us that makes having this kind of fun a bit suspect to many. But I don't wish to get preechy here. I had fun and am a bit sad to realize that it was my last bonenkai. I think the next few months are going to be great and extremely sad at the same time.

Anyway, just about time to get out of here.