yeah

The end of the Japan experience contained a few excellent parties. The first was, as always, at outback steakhouse. No problem there, except for the forgivably inedible food. BTW, the house wine at Outback Japan is Franzia. BTW2, hearing your crimp-haired Japanese waitress try to say Franzia is amusing but not as amusing as her pronounciation of “grilled” and “really.” There are many things we are not meant to understand about the far east, and this is one of them. Outback holds few surprises except for the offering pictured at right.

The next unexpected party came at an authentic Tapas bar we stumbled upon (literally, ref:Franzia) in the afternoon. It was a gorgeous tiny place where the door could barely open far enough against the barstools to squeeze in and greet the puzzled staff. The tendress was eager to talk and was a jazz dancer or something, but without a partner.

Later that night there was some business up on a roof garden with blacklights. Then there was a trip to an English pub. Getting there required the guidance of a young Algerian who was returning home the next day after 10 years in Japan, leaving his fetching young mate behind, (and his mate’s behind too for that matter), hopefully to become a stripper. Our next guide was a Japanese woman who apparently lived near this bar and refused my taking her picture, one of only two people to do that in a month of asking. The sell Absinthe at these places, but I think drinking barbicide would do more for you than buying a shot of that stuff. It was cute enough, though, for me to down a couple of shots and do the running man for my fans. I think they also sold beer. I tried to take a lot of pictures that night with the lens cap off, luckily the Kiwi behind the bar would remind me of this as he saw me contentedly staring through a dark viewfinder.