It's a PINUS party,
right here in Tokorozawa,
time to have some fun!
This week a few of the other teacher's that live in the same building as me and I made a plan to head back to our local area, which is actually right on the border between two city districts, Higashimurayama and Tokorozawa, to go out for some food and drink. Usually on Fridays people head somewhere after work, but it is really hard to link up with teachers from other schools when you are in such busy areas and communication is not so easy. The plan was great, we were to meet at 8 o'clock at the station, giving everyone just enough time to change at home and walk back to the station, or to just meet at the station on the way home from work. One problem though. It's the rainy season and it was absolutely pouring! This slows things down and makes the walk from station to home and back much more arduous. I had my laptop with me, so I decided there's no way I wasn't going to head home to drop it off and change. Aykut and his visiting friend Dolores walked back with me and I shared Aykut's umbrella the whole way. Nevertheless, I was pretty soaked by the time I got home. We quickly changed and then decided to find a cab to take us back, so we wouldn't arrive at the new meeting point, a pub by the station, which we decided on after running into our friend Lauren on the way home, dripping. We managed to get a cab and it was just a short ride to the station. Everybody met inside the pub and had a drink. Lots of teachers were there, and my Japanese friend Yuki, who lives nearby, joined us and brought his friend Mizuki.
After that we headed to a different bar, that Yuki and Mizuki selected for us. It was a few floors up from the street. We went in and took our shoes off, storing them in the shoe lockers at the front. Then we were shown to our booth-like area. The whole place was comprised of separated booths, with sliding doors that are only opened when the staff deliver something or people have to go to the washroom. This place had the Nomihodai system, so we had All You Can Drink for an hour and a half. We had a great time and everybody drank many different types of beverages. Some antics ensued, but no harm was done.
Following that bar we headed for some late night eats at Yoshinoya, the super speedy beef on rice fast food joint, before looking for somewhere else to go. We considered going to Full House again (lhttp://bashoandfukuro.blogspot.jp/2014/05/0516-full-house.html) but it was empty and they still wanted to charge each of us just for a seat. We asked for a discount, but Tim told me when the barman was asked how much it would cost his answer was simply "We're not such a cheap place." People began to head home in different groups in the still absolutely pouring rain. It was a really fun night, but everything would have been a lot easier if not for the combination of rain raining down outside and drinks raining down inside.
If you're wondering why the word "PINUS" is in the title of this entry and the haiku, it is because it is the name of our building. We live in a Leopalace, which is a chain of apartment buildings that can be found all around Japan. Each Leopalace building has a name, most of which seem to attempt to sound vaguely English. There have been many jokes regarding the name since the day we got here. All week we called our night out the PINUS Party. For the record, it is pronounced just like the word penis by every Japanese person I've heard say it so far.
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