Day 189 in Japan - Brazillians for all!

Did my usual Saturday morning cleaning routine, and then had a really good Japanese lesson with Kojima-sensei. After the lesson, I met up with Sam and went jacket shopping, to try to get him a coat. He’s been putting off getting a coat for a full, very cold, month now, so we went and tried on a bunch of really nice jackets near Okubo station. We ended up buying a cool jacket with rounded bits at the bottom of the front hem. It was a nice jacket and all, but I’m pretty sure that the reason he said yes to that and no to some of the others was that there was a really cute and cool looking girl working at this store who agreed with me that it looked nice on him.

After our shopping, we met up with a bunch of other gaijin in Kobe for a night out. Arjun’s younger brother was out from Perth for a quick visit with his girlfriend, so we went out for a night of Brazilian nomitabehoudai. The meats were absolutely delicious! I had never had Brazilian-style food before, and I will definitely be going back for seconds (and thirds, and fourths…). I sat with Dan and Simon and Trudie, and I loved their company. I miss talking shit over beers and food, and tonight filled a little hole that had been developing in my heart. It was over all too soon, and people had to run for their last trains as usual. We had a bit of spare time, so we went into Sannomiya with ye olde Australian posse and went to an awesome 70’s bar with a grumpy bartender, brilliant record collection and a 500 yen seating charge (what, me tight?). I got to talk to the guests of honour (Jai and his girlfriend) a little and got in a very decent gin and tonic before it was time to shuffle for the last train. Midnight is just too early to leave a nice night like this!

Soccer was on TV when I got home – Australia vs. Japan for the Asia Cup. We watched to full time – it was 0-0 all the way to the end, and then I fell asleep. Apparently, Australia lost as soon as I closed my eyes. Not looking forward to talking to my soccer boys on Monday.

Food Highlight of the Day: Chicken hearts on skewers at the Brazilian restaurant. It wasn’t the most delicious food I ate, but it was the most memorable.