Another work day. Kaoru went to her parents after breakfast and I was busy for the morning. We went out for lunch, to an Italian restaurant nearby, which was quite nice, and I spent the afternoon working.
When I had finished for the day, we caught the train to Mio (Kaoru’s sister) and Yoitchi’s house. They live a short walk from Harajuku – the area I first kissed Kaoru, so always looks very familiar, despite me never going to their place before. They live in a beautiful apartment, and as well as having Arisa (who is 6), they also have a little toy poodle that was excited at seeing somebody new. Eventually the dog annoyed Mio and she put it in its play pen. That’s right – most people have a small play pen / cage for their children. In Japan, they put their pet dog in it. It has a water bottle and a bed, and a few toys in it. Each to their own.
Mio had me opening bottles pretty much from when I walked in the door. I was to learn what being a guest at “Mio’s Bar” was like, and I will be more prepared next time! We started the evening with a bottle of French Champagne, and then commenced eating our first course while the main course (Sukiyaki) was cooking. The bottle of champagne wasn’t finished before I had to select the red wine (French, and chilled, which is a different concept for me) to have with dinner. While eating, I commented on the piano in the room and was told Arisa could play, so I told her I wanted to hear a song. So once we finished eating, with a lot more coaxing (and the promise of me playing something) I got her to play something for me. I couldn’t believe seeing a 6 year old with such talent – but that’s what the Japanese are like!
I then had to play something, so tried to teach Arisa the base line of “Heart and Soul”. She wouldn’t do it though, so I had to play both parts of the duet by myself. I did a couple of versus, and then the gloves were off. She wanted to show off what she could do! It’s funny watching the shy turn in to confidence! Halfway through her playing, Kenitchi – Kaoru’s younger sister’s husband – arrived from work. He was quite hungry so got straight in to eating, while I opened the next bottle of red wine.
Arisa then wanted to play “Connect 4”. Kaoru and I had bought it for her when Kaoru was in Australia at Christmas, after she had seen David and Izzy play it. After a few games, Kaoru and Arisa played (with me helping Arisa at times) while I spoke to Kenitchi. He lived in Philadelphia for a few years some time ago, so spoke fair English. He also is President of his own company (of 3) and is in IT, so we had a lot in common and were able to converse very well. Meanwhile Mio had the bottle of Hennesey flowing, and Kaoru had to bath Arisa.
Yoitchi (Mio’s husband, the doctor, and Kaoru’s former boss) arrived home at some point, and it was on to the Saki. I do remember a point in the evening when I had champagne, red wine, Hennesey and Saki in 4 separate glasses in front of me, while Kenitchi was telling me “Mio’s bar is open – it’s free but you pay for it the next day”. It was somewhere around there that Kozue (his wife – Kaoru’s sister) called, and I don’t know whether the two were related or not! I spoke to her briefly (for the first time). She spoke a little bit of English, but not much, so it was mostly laughing.
At some stage in the night Kaoru said it was time to go home, so the 3 of us (Kaoru, Kenitchi and I) said goodbye to Mio (Yoitchi had snuck off to bed at some point) and we started walking out. However I was then informed that we missed the last train home and had to catch a taxi. This wasn’t what I expected in Japan at all, as it was only just after midnight. It was just over 7,000 yen (AU$70) to get back to our hotel by cab.
I had to try to get the Pracware release out tonight, as some final work was being done during the day by the guys back in Australia. I attempted the first part (the checkout), but had a timeout error that took more brain power than I had left for the evening. So I put it in the “tomorrow” basket and crawled in to bed.