Yokohama X’s 2!!!

Last week was the pits…not going to sugar coat it, it was! But, who likes ending things on a negative note?...Not me, so moving on to a more positive post!

After the bad news times 3 on Thursday, Nick and I went out for a much needed good time! We went with a few friends to downtown Yokohama for a little karaoke! Whoohoo!

Pics on the train…first time I have been bold enough to whip out my camera while on the train! (Normally it is too crowded and I don’t want to be impolite…however, this night in particular the Japanese stayed away from us, as in literally got up and moved to different seats so that we were in a section of the train by ourselves… I took advantage of the situation for a picture opportunity!)

First we went to a “European” bar. The music, decorations, and drinks on the menu were English/American, but the waiters and customers were very Japanese! Jessica and I ordered some “American Tea” just because of the name, but of course it didn’t taste very American at all!!! (No surprise there!)

The red drinks were the "American Teas"!

Next we went to a Japanese Karaoke place…now Japanese karaoke is not the same as it is in the States. The Japanese do not think it weird at all to sit in a private room, with as little as 2 people, singing to one another!!! (I don’t know why they don’t just buy the box set and do this at their own home, but that’s just me!?!) So in Karaoke places here, that’s what you do, you pay to karaoke, but it’s done in a room with just you and your party….very private, no one else is able to witness you singing like a fool but the people you came with! (I personally would love to observe what is going on inside the other rooms where the Japanese are karaoke-ing….do they sing in English, Japanese, are they loud, silly??? I want to know? One of these times, I am going to “accidentally” walk into the wrong room! Heehehe!)

Me with the fan I was given by a man advertising on the street outside the karaoke place...this is not uncommon to get advertisements on the streets in the form of a fan, package of tissues, and other useful/not items! This one in particular was an advertisement for a gentlemen's club (I think, obviously I don't know because it was in Kanji)! Hahah!

Nick and Dave, belting out some tunes...notice Jess and I staying classy in the background!!! (No beers for us...YUCK!)

Jess and I tried to get the boys to sing along with us on our "girly" songs! They weren't having it!

Nick wasn't really rocking out, but he did a good impression for me anyways!

After we had been there about an hour, one of the guys (Plapper) disappeared for a bit...when he came back this is the get-up he was in! Hilarious! He had apparently ran downstairs and went to a store across the street which sold costumes! Gotta love pokemon!

Oddly enough, I ended up in Yokohama the very next night for a pre-planned girls night with some of the spouses of HSL-51. It was our Spouse Club’s “July Social.” We went to the Breeze Garden on the seventh floor rooftop of the Shin-Yokohama Prince Hotel.

This cute little "beer garden" served beer in these tall beer towers pictured below. (Though I don't even like beer, I had to get a picture with the tower, purely for blog purposes of course!!!)

For some reason this night out in particular we got a lot of responses from the Japanese, both men and women! (Seriously it was crazy the way they responded to us…you would think they had never seen Americans before – which is so not the case! However this place in particular, we were the only gaijins in site!) When we walked into the beer garden, people from all over the terrace turned to stare at us. Some people pointed and laughed…don’t know if it was amusing to them that we actually go out and drink, or if we just looked funny???

Three different groups of men came up to our table to take pictures with us and ask questions. Twice we had men bring us drinks to our table!

The two men in the pictures below kept coming back to talk to us...they were a bit inebriated and were definitely entertaining!

When Mari told them a couple of us girls were from Texas, the one in the orange shirt tries to mimic (very dramatically) riding on a horse and galloping! (Because obviously that's what ALL Texans do right?!?) It was HILARIOUS!!!

Each girl paid 4,000 Yen ($40) to go to the Beer Garden, which included all the drinks we wanted for 2 hours, plus 5 different yummy appetizers! It was a very fun girls night and a unique experience!

Trying to leave, when we were yet again, stopped by a girl who wanted to talk to us! She wanted to take a picture with us, but we were ready to leave and asked her to take our picture in the elevator instead..."silly gaijin"!

Twin shoes...yes, I copied Jess! After over a month without heels and still another 2 to go, I broke down and ordered a pair on the internet! (It's not as if any of them fit me in the stores here!!! The largest they sell is a size 8, and that's still hard to find!)

In the train station...still getting questions and stares...it's ok, it gave us the opportunity to ask our onlookers, "will you please take our picture?" "Arigato gozaimasu!"

Thanks again Tammy for the "peace sign" that ended up giving me bunny ears!!!

Despite the fact that Nick and I have been here almost 2 months and had yet to experience the Japanese favorite hobby of karaoke, we ended up doing it not once but twice this weekend! (Yes I am very horse as a result!)

After leaving the Breeze Garden, the girls and I all took the train back to our starting point. Several of the girls parted ways, calling it an "early" night. A few of us however, decided why not go karaoke?

Nick and Tammy's husband met us at the Karaoke place...they couldn't resist watching us girls sing and be silly!

I think they "actually" sang about 1 song in total...the rest of the time they were just posing!

Before joining up with the girls, Nick and our good friend Dave went to eat sushi and then to an “American” bar to listen to music. He tells me later the funny stories of his experience.

The sushi restaurant they ate at was one of the places where you sit by a fish tank and watch your dinner swim around before you eat it! Gross! He said they literally pointed to the fish they wanted, then watched the sushi chef chop it's head off and slice it up before serving it to them!

Then he and Dave went to the "American" bar where they were the only Americans in site!!! He said the musician played American songs that they knew, singing them in English. So afterwards they were excited to go up and talk to him, assuming since he could sing in English, he could obviously speak it as well! Wrong...they said he couldn't speak a word of English, he had apparently only memorized the words to the songs!

After karaoke, Nick drove us all home! Don't be fooled by our small car...the Cube is supposed to only fit 4 people, but we fit 6! I wore a motorcycle helmet for safety since I was the one who had to squeeze in the trunk with no seat belt! Safety first!!! Haha! Yes, I did duck when we entered the base so as to not get a ticket!