On Thursday night, Paul too me to an izakaya, which is like a Japanese pub (but nothing like a pub back home). Food is often ordered here and shared and eaten like tapas. But the great thing about this night was that we ordered really healthy food, and it tasted great. Lots of raw tuna and salmon, which was delicous, and only the occasional fried dish. I saw a path out of the fat-laden quagmire that I thought might overwhelming represent my time in Japan.
After dinner, we caught up with Jolene, an English teacher friend of Paul's. Jolene hails from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. And yes, she loves the West Edmonton Mall. We went to a karaoke bar, which is nothing like I've ever seen before. Karaoke is a national obsession in Japan. The venue we attended, Shidax, is a purpose-built eight-story building (quite new in fact), each floor with 20+ karaoke booths that comfortably hold at least six or seven people. Apparently the place is full on a Friday or Saturday night, and it is near impossible to get a room. Have a look at my karaoke photos.
We could have payed for only two hours, but Paul and I knew that we wouldn't be able to stop once we started singing. So we went for the all-night/flat-rate/nomihodai deal. Nomihodai is Japanse for all-you-can-drink. Many restaurants and bars offer a nomihodai deal because:
(i) alcohol is ridiculously cheap when purchased from a supermarket (AUD $13 for a bottle of Johnny Walker Red Label), and
(ii) one doesn't need a license to sell alcohol, so a shop or bar owner can purchase alcohol from a supermarket and sell it to with no problem.
Alcohol consumption seems prevalent throughout Japanese culture. There are drink vending machines everywhere, and many sell alcohol. Just this morning I asked Nobby (Paul's boyfriend) about the incidence of liver cancer. Apparently, like lung cancer, there is a very high incidence of these diseases in Japan. You can drink anywhere, and smoke anywhere, except on planes. So when I see someone smoking on a train, taxi, or while working in a restaurant kitchen, it's understandably surprising coming from Australia where smokers are treated like lepers.
Anyway, back to karaoke. We had an absolute ball. Although I think we all thought we were much better than we actually were. I took some videos on my digital still camera, and they just prove this point. But karaoke is very addictive, and it's very easy to fight over the microphones or song choices once you get hooked. We left Shidax around 5:30AM, making our time there an eight-hour marathon.
We had planned a big day, which was understandably reorganised because of the big night before. Paul wanted to take me to Mt Yahiko, where there is a Shinto Shrine (although Paul insisted at the time that it was a Buddhist temple - whoops about that). Yahiko is around 40 minutes drive south west of Niigata. At one point, the road is built on a narrow edge between the mountains and the ocean. It is very reminiscient of the drive between Cairns and Port Douglas. Check out the photos here.
We drove up the coast side of Mt Yahiko, to a dodgy themed attraction at the top with a "ride" which is just an observation tower like the one in Niigata (for more photos of that ride, check out my ever-expanding Niigata photo-set). From the mountain top, we took a cable car down the other side to the Mt Yahiko shrine. It's a good thing I didn't go there with my Paul (hello Kerby), because it is a well-known local superstition that if you go to Mt Yahiko with your partner, you will anger the local demi-god and you will split up not long after leaving. Yahiko was stunning, with a quaint town just nearby.
Gotta run. We're going to a baseball match. Will write more soon.
