At least, I think it’s spring break time, because the grad students are all on vacation, and I think the undergrads finished thesis stuff this week as well (if Nakaaki-san’s suit at the lab nomikai was any indication). そのままで、we kicked off the first event in what’s going to end up being 7? 8? social events that I have scheduled in the next few weeks.
Before I proceed further, the reason why I haven’t talked too much about my lab is because I’m kinda paranoid that someone is going to want to google their name in English one day and find my blog or something. 恥ずかしいな～ For that reason, in general, I’ve been avoiding using names in my blog. But I figure, as long as I don’t say anything embarrassing, it shouldn’t be a problem.
Friday night. The second of three welcoming/going away parties in the lab in the space of about a month. The first was a welcoming party for the newest two gaijin at the time, Jonathan and Liliana (also, coincidentally, the only two gaijin that I refer to by their names in my head), and the going away party for Omori-san, who’s going off to France for a year. This nomikai (飲み会, in case I’ve never introduced the word before, is literally “drinking party”) was thrown to welcome Cheng-hsi (aka Taiwanese chick) and to see off Davide (aka Italian guy), who’s heading to Cambridge (the other Cambridge) for a while.
The nomikai started at a place that was, at the very least, Korean-inspired, if not actually a Korean restaurant. The gaijin were lined up along one side of one of the tables. Senseis were gathered loosely at the middle table, along with Davide. Yamaguchi-sensei started off the nomikai talking about how awesome Davide was, and how he was glad to have Cheng-hsi in the lab, and that sort of thing.
Soon after the start of the nomikai, some of the undergrads sitting across from me – Kobayashi-san, Tanaka-san, and Yoshida-san – asked if I wanted to go for karaoke with them until morning for the after-after-party, so I knew that this was going to be an epic nomikai. I’m pretty bad at singing, but it was lab bonding time (which I don’t have enough of) and karaoke (which is fun, even if I’m bad at it, and one of those things that can’t be done alone), so, of course, I agreed to go.
In addition to drinks, there was also sashimi, salad, orange chicken(?) and sukiyaki. All very tasty, of course. Maryam and Davod (Iranian chick and Iranian guy, respectively) couldn’t eat the sukiyaki because it contained pork, so they had their own seafood sukiyaki. (it was also very tasty.) French guy came late and started a conversation with Cheng-hsi along the lines of “why didn’t she know Japanese, because he knew that a lot of people in Taiwan could speak Japanese” and being his usual presumptuous, annoying self. Eventually, French guy left our part of the table before I could think of an excuse to punch him in the face and blame it on the alcohol, and Jonathan (aka French guy who isn’t really annoying) took his spot.
There was also conversation with some of the Japanese guys and French guy (at this point, I’d drank enough such that I was less annoyed than usual with French guy) about how Japanese people will pretty much compliment anyone who can say so much as “arigatou gozaimasu” without sounding horrible. Then Yoshida-san said that my Japanese was perfectly understandable. 
There was also a cute moment between Maryam and Yoshida-san, in which each insisted that the other’s English was better than theirs, but Maryam concluded that if they were each able to understand the other, that that was sufficient.
By the end of the first party, I was in full-on Japanese mode, and felt bad that I wasn’t speaking more in English to people who can’t understand Japanese (really, Japanese comes more naturally when I’m around Japanese people and drinking), but everyone was paired up with someone else who could understand them, and I tried making conversation occasionally as well.
After a couple of hours, we moved on to the next place (the 二次会: nijikai, second party/after party), and I convinced Liliana and Cheng-hsi to come along. There were various highlights of the nijikai – it was rather fun.
There was a short quiz session with Nakaaki-san, in which he pointed to kanji on the menu and I read them off, until we got to 完熟マンゴー, which means “ripened mango.” (why would I know that) I hoped this made up for the time that I was misreading the kanji for shochu until he corrected me, which was very embarrassing indeed.
There was a conversation in which various people wanted me to translate sketchy words (such as hentai, motherfucker, shit, etc.). I’m not sure what they made of my ability to do so more or less accurately. They seemed entertained, though. My translation for motherfucker was something like 「めっちゃ嫌なやつ。すごく強い言葉なので気をつけて。」I wasn’t really sure how to communicate that you really don’t say that casually in everyday language, but maybe it’s okay.
Near the end, Yamaguchi-sensei announced that his wife (who also attended) was insisting that they “retire for the evening” so he was taking off. Around this time, I also challenged Davide to shots (you know, to see him off). We did maybe half a glass of whiskey, but he complained that it was too weak. Then, Davide, Cheng-hsi, and I each finished off a small bottle of 日本酒. Not one of my brighter ideas, but I’m sure it was an experience for all parties involved.
By 1 am, it was time for the karaoke sanjikai. Liliana had a trip in the morning, so she left. Davide left too, despite my better efforts to convince him that it was his duty to go, since he’s leaving. Cheng-hsi and Jonathan, on the other hand, were up for karaoke, so the three of us headed off with a few of the Japanese guys to some karaoke place.
I remember convincing Cheng-hsi to sing Tong Hua with me, but I utterly failed at it. Need to practice more. In general, I failed at singing (as usual). But I was the only one who did. I’ve decided that the reason why karaoke is so popular in Japan is because most Japanese people can secretly sing really well. And take karaoke seriously. Like if multiple people knew a song, they’d switch off parts in the song in a kakkoii fashion.
具体的に、Nakaaki-san and Tanaka-san can sing really well. There was a part of the screen Rock Band-like that showed where the notes were and where the singer’s voice was in comparison, and watching them sing was just like watching the notes fill themselves up correctly. Very kakkoii. Then they sang this song together. I was in awe of their singing.
They also sang Dragonball Z and Evangelion theme songs. I was pretty excited, but I felt like I was ruining the mood when I sang along. Nakaaki-san sang Touch by Younha… just like Nakama-san did at the tkd karaoke outing. Maybe Younha is just popular amongst Japanese engineering students with 中 in their names or something. Jonathan sang some songs that I didn’t know, but one of them had the phrase “sex machine,” and Nakaaki-san laughed when he sang it.
I have a confession to make. I tried smoking at karaoke. The thing is, everyone smokes in Japan, so it’s almost like societal peer pressure, but I wasn’t about to spend money on cigarettes for myself (both because they’re expensive – though apparently Japan has a much lower cigarette tax than the Western world – and because it would be a dangerous precedent). I guess I was eyeing them when we arrived at the karaoke place, because Cheng-hsi offered to buy a pack, since she already smokes. I had a couple, I think. It… wasn’t bad. I was drunk, for one. But I also like the taste of menthol – I’d probably eat menthol cough drops all day, if I could. But don’t worry, I have no desire to take up any new drugs (caffeine and occasional alcohol are enough, thanks), especially the kind that are both expensive and addictive.
…and that was the latest lab nomikai.
I found out, as I was walking home, that the lab ski trip is Monday-Tuesday, not Sunday-Monday, as I’d thought for the past few weeks, to the point that I skipped a tournament (in vain, apparently). I really thought it was on White Day – Nakaaki-san and I had variations on: 「月曜日だよ。」「ええ～ そうか。」「そうだよ。」「本当？」for about 10 minutes at 6:30 am. Poor guy. 
When I ran into him in lab today, he greeted me with a 「明日だよぉ。」Anyway, major reading comprehension fail. I have no excuse – the emails were written in both Japanese and English. :\
Speaking of the lab ski trip, I should get packing. Apparently one can rent skiing clothes as well as ski/snowboard, which is rather nice, since obviously I didn’t bring skiing clothes with me to Japan. I’ll be snowboarding, of course, because at least I don’t have past experience with obtaining knee injuries while snowboarding. (also, snowboarding is motto kakkoii. that’s obviously important.)
), as well as a few kids. That said, it was pretty crowded and not so intense.
