Christmas by the Sea, In Asia

Just before Christmas, Lisa and I went downtown to the beachfront park in Ito to celebrate with about 5000 other fans of Christmas. They had typical festival foods, like Ika-Yaki, Yaki-Tori, Tako-Yaki, Yaki-Gyu, Okonomi-Yaki, and many others. Here's a shot of me eating my very first Ika-Yaki with a Kirin chaser:
Have you guessed what Ika-Yaki means yet? Keep thinking, and no, Dr. Freud, it is not something that usually comes attached to the human body!

Speaking of strange foods, a few days before we went to the fireworks show, Lisa and I had a Christmas Enkai (office party where everyone is allowed to drink and be comfortable) with some of the teachers from Yawatano Shou-Gakko (grade school). We went to an Okinawa-style restaurant. The early entrees were fairly normal, even by American standards: fried chicken, noodles, rice, sushi, etc. But then they started to get strange. This particular Okinawa-style restaurant specializes in two things: 1. foods made from a very bitter tasting cucumber called goya that has tiny bumps all over its skin and 2. sliced, sauteed pig's ear. The pig's ear was OK, but it was a little too cartilaginous for me, and I didn't like the bitterness of the goya, but everything else was good. I also kept getting my cup refilled with an Okinawa-style hooch called Awamori. It was a lot like whiskey, but not as oaky, and it packed a pretty decent punch.

I almost forgot to mention that earlier in the evening, Lisa bought me a 500 Yen santa suit. There were two children coming to dinner that evening, and Lisa had told the others that I would play Santa. Here are a few pictures of our friend Kaoru and me doing our best to pull off Santa and a reindeer:

The two little girls, Riko and Kako, were quite shocked when Santa and Rudolf came around the corner. Riko Jumped 3 feet across the room into her mother's arms. They were only able to receive the gifts we had for them after a good bit of coaxing. But once they realized we were the real deal, they commenced to opening presents and munching the candy inside them. After I went outside and took off the costume, I came back inside to eat. Riko kept eyeing me suspiciously all night, but I don't think she made me.

Fast forward a few nights back to the festival. Have you figured out yet that "ika" means squid? Anyway, after we ate strange food and had a few beers, we went over to the dance show. I have included here a highlight reel with some of the fireworks, dancing, and drunken commentary from Blaise and me.

So while we terribly miss our friends and family, we had a good time at Christmas. Love and good-wishes going out to everyone!