Welcome to Sunny Saijo..with added beer and karaoke!

Sunday night was another fantastic event organised by yours truly to Welcome the arrival of our NOVA newbies, Matt and Mary (now all we need is a Peter or Paul and we could have a Folk trio).

The weather however sucked arse. Japanese rain, well Saijo rain is the size of those green sticky dart things you find in the Park in summer. When a drop hits you it feels like you've been smacked on the face by on of those Mexican midget wrestlers. So with our Kevlar padded umbrellas, myself, Evan and Matt decided to brave this weather...in a taxi...

Japanese taxi drivers rock. Imagine a cross between Michael Jackson white gloves, traditional Japanese stoicism and the occassional banter in Japanese that is so accent heavy that even Evan just smiles like the rest of us, Dumb Gaijin brigade.

Also Japanese taxi doors open by themselves...well I guess the driver flicks a switch...its probably next to the one marked EJECTOR SEAT FOR LOUD GAIJIN.

Anyway, I'd chosen Gochi-ya, my favourite Izakaya because its got great food and a nice ambience. Plus they have a free drink menu and cute female staff.

Getting there early meant we could hammer into the free drink menu, before the girls arrived, and we were seated "upstairs" which meant Matt had to walk at 90 degrees whenever he wanted to go to the toilet.

When the girls arrived I was in the prime position to sit next to Mary...Now I am not going to talk anymore about how she looks. She's nice person, a little ditzy and maybe the female version of our very own Doctor Goatee, Jason...

Dinner was great as usual...Salads with sashimi, beautifully cooked steak, a pasta type thing and the usually Kaku-Ni (pork thats been boiled for about 16 years or so)....

After that Karaoke madness...