Japanese BBQ

Over the last holiday (a week ago), I was invited by Furiya Sensei from my Junior High to a BBQ at his house. We had the day off, so we were going to eat food and do things that Japanese people do on nice days. I met him there and we hung out for most of the day. 

 The first thing I took a picture of was his stairs in his house. Awesome right? Drawers built into the stairs! Cool right? I thought it was, so I took a picture for you all. Turns out that Furiya Sensei has a friend who is a carpenter that built the house for him. I actually met this friend as well. He was an...interesting...guy. 

He had a really unhealthy obsession with my stomach. Really. I understand that Japanese people aren't used to people having big bellies, and that their social bubble is smaller than ours...but this guy was out of line. Maybe it was all the alcohol he had, but he would pat my belly and show it off to every new person that came to the party. It was all sorts of uncomfortable. Like MAK said though, I guess this will help me appreciate what my future spouse will go through when people touch pregnant lady bellies. I am coming up with a new slogan:

Not Even Once. 

 They had Costco pizza! Unfortunately it was the Japanese variety with corn and mayonnaise. I think when we get to heaven, the Japanese are going to have to answer for the sins they have committed against pizza. 

 Wouldn't be a BBQ without the actual BBQ right? You can see slices of tongue there on the grill. What can I say? I enjoy tongue now. (That sounds so weird and awful)

 Also on the grill: Shellfish, Whole Shrimp (including eyes), and hot dogs that you buy pre-stuck on a stick. The hot dogs weren't bad...but they served them without buns. Just munching on a hot dog.

 The coolest thing about his house was his Kendo dojo. It was super awesome. It was entirely wood from floor to ceiling. He is super into Kendo so why not?

Speaking of Kendo, he teaches it to younger students. I took some video for you to see. 

He also had his Kendo teacher come to the party and they practiced for an upcoming evaluation thing. The guy on the left is teaching Furiya (in the blue). His description of the guy on the left was, "I think he is a very...kind of scary guy. He is very...um...I don't know." I didn't get those kind of vibes from the guy, but he wasn't swinging a stick at me. 

 A few of his kids and some of the friends kids playing with the COOLEST Matchbox Car set I have ever seen! It had loops! It had jumps! It was self powered! It was everything I always wanted to have as a kid. *sigh*

 The view from his back porch. Not bad right? I also like the lawn. Just squares cut out from sod about the size of carpet samples. No effort to cultivate it or anything. Just kind of let it roll. 

 I had to take a picture of this in the bathroom. This would be at eye-level if you were sitting on the toilet. It's just a calendar with some random white person staring at you. All the pictures are random and the calendar is from some kind of taxi company or something. 

 Evidently teachers have the good life. This guy has his own URINAL! If that isn't the dream, I don't know what is. 

 The party folks. From left to right: Some guy, the carpenter, Mrs. Furiya, and the carpenter's girlfriend. Mrs. Furiya was a hoot. She and her friend (someone's wife) were drinking and chatting me up. It was quite an interesting conversation. We shared what information we could, but it was very limited. We went over all the animal sounds and how they were different from America to Japan. That was interesting. They kept shouting "Obachan power!" It means basically Mom power. It was really funny. They asked me what food I liked, after going through a list, I got to Yakisoba. They started saying it over and over and made me follow them into the kitchen. Once there, they proceeded to make Yakisoba for me despite my protests. I obliged and ate it...

While the Yakisoba was being made, I made some origami with one of the kids and Mrs. Furiya showed me the extent of their DVR. We compared movies we liked. She likes: Con Air (yup), Titanic, Lady Gaga music videos, and the music video for Titanic.

 The previously mentioned hot wheel set and 'scary guy.'

Here you can also see another picture of the kids in their lunchtime getup. Funny.