At least I didn't pass out on the train

...but I was definitely pissed and I distinctly remember karaoke being involved. Oh well.

In fact I had a pretty cool evening. It started with meeting some English guys from Newcastle who came to Japan just over a week ago to do the same thing as me. A bunch of us met by landmark tower in Minatomirai (by Yokohama Bay) and walked around wishing there was more to do there. After talking to a guy from Maldover in the Soveit Union and a Polish Sven Goran Erikson (both of whom were pissed out their faces), we decided to leave Minatomirai cos there is fuck all to do there. (I found out Americans apparently don't use 'fuck all' as they had no idea what I was saying...they just say, quite simply, 'shit', instead). It was quite an educational evening all round actually. I found out Maldover is officially the poorest country in "Europe" as no one pays their taxes etc...but people are apparently well off because of this! Also the Maldovan (???) charmingly informed us "I fucking hate zee Russians...my family used to fucking shoot them"...which was nice. The Polish guy had little of interest to say as he was so pissed. He was about 40 years old, looked incredibly like "Sven" and got very excited when he saw us all and said we were such a "diversified" crowd. I looked at him and said "diversified!". To which he exclaimed..."I love it it...I say diversified then you say diversified...I fucking love it!" We left these men shortly after...

Anyway after getting taxis to another part of town, the swanky Matomachi area, a few of us didn't see the English guys again. I was in the company of the same Americans I was out with when I passed out on that train...!

We found a tiny little bar called Misty. Of course we didn't know it was tiny until we were inside...most Japanese bars, and everything else, are on floors other than ground level. There are a lot of lifts in Japan. Misty was a very cool hideout. We sat at the bar and chatted with the friendliest bartender in Japan (I may be wrong but thus far he is definitely the friendliest!). He showed us magic tricks and gave us discounts on the cocktails we were drinking. His tricks were cool by the way...none of that pointless tacky shit! We picked up a friend at this bar, a local guy called Suburyou (I think that is the spelling). A 26 year old guy who then took us to an Izakaya for food and more drinks.

Cockroaches are rank little bastards...and we were handed them. The waiter brought over some ashtrays and inside one was a cockroach and loads of little ones scurried out of it. It wasnt very nice! Suburyou was not pleased! He shouted at the waiter and then before we knew it we were in the "special" room out the back with a proper table and chairs. Suburyou clearly knew how to complain even tho I had no idea what he was saying. Cockroaches are everywhere in Japan but you rarely see them so blatently.

Then I got a slap in the face...there in the corner of the room was a big TV and karaoke system! This did not please me but by this time I was pissed enough to think it was great when everyone else got excited! Suburyou of course made sure this was included once he saw it.

The food was good; we ate a small feast and drank more drinks. I sang as tho I liked karaoke (alcohol does that to me) and also made lots of stupid noises down the mic...obviously. The first thing they brought us for food was small-ish whole fish - three varieties of. Later I found that one was standard, one was chargrilled and one was pregnant fish full of eggs. I asked how to eat them so Suburyou put one into his mouth headfirst and chewed the whole thing in one go. I did the same. They just tasted like fish really! They were all cooked so I didn't mind doing this...would've spewed if they were raw! Oh, and yes they still had their heads and eyes and tail. I ate lots of them, kinda became a drunken habbit for a short while. The rest of the food was standard enough not to mention.

After eating we were politely shown where to get more beers from a convenience store and were helped to the local train station! Was a nice and eventful evening...and at least I didn't pass out on the train this time.