A Gaijin's Night Out

Jame and I have rarely eaten out since we have been in our new hood. Tonight I met Jame after work at a local izakaya (Japanese pub) for some eats. It started out as a quiet dinner with just the two of us...then about an hour or so later we had quite the fan club! Here are some photos from our night:

** This is me eating salmon sashimi. I was never a fan of smoked salmon back home as I found it to be too fishy, but I love the fresh, raw stuff here! Yummy! **

** This is nabe....a common Japanese dish in the winter. It is basically like a hearty soup that cooks at your table. You have your broth and then depending on the type of nabe....fish, meat, tofu, leeks, cabbage, rice etc. It is so tasty on a cold day **

**Tonight we had some nabe that consisted of tofu, leeks, cabbage, rice, and chicken balls**

** "Cheese" after a couple of yuzu chuhai's.....I heart chuhai!!**

**The table we were seated at was next to a large party. There were tons of adults....drunk adults with their kids....cute kids! Once we were sat, we were stared at...nothing new for us! As the night progressed some of the kids would smile and wave and then eventually spew out some common English phrases. Before we knew it there were about 10 kids talking to us in half Japanese and half English. They were sooo cute! Here is a photo of us with most of them. They told me their names, but I am so horrible I can only remember 2....of course....my favourites!**

Can you spot the little cutie under the armpit of the girl third from the left of me? He was soooooo cute with his huge smile showing us how good he was at Super Mario Cart on his Nintendo DS -- something that I really want for Christmas :)!!!!