Takoyaki and Tuna

Saturday 31st October 2009

AM

Least: At 8:30am, as I packed my takoyaki costume into my back I was horrified to see that amound of hair it had extracted from my head. I'm no sure whether it is takoyaki-related heair loss or simple the accelerating onset of male-pattern baldness. One positive though, was that today would be the last time for a year that I would have to worry about a wretched costume. After five days, halloween was a crashing bore.

Most: At about 9:35am, I sat on my usual Saturday train in my usual Saturday carriage (number 7). Looking around, I saw all the usual suspects heading off to work in the sticks, but also a sixty-something salary man completely asleep in his seat. This is not unusual, however in the earlyish morning it was incredible to see how comfortable he had made himself. He had taken off his shoes and was laying tangled up on his seat with one of his be-socked perched on the window sill (see low res phone photo right). At least his slumber style guaranteed a seat to himself.

PM

Least: By 1:45pm, I was beginning to feel rage towards a temporary assistant that had been seen to my Wakayama school. She was comically officious and marched around like a woman on a mission. I think she'd forgotten that she was actually in a school full of kids trying to learning English in a fun way. The low point came when she entered my classroom to take the obligatory halloween photo and insisted on speaking in Japanese the whole time she graced our presence despite being a head trainer. This was especially galling after having to remind the kids so often that the room is English only. She was even ruder during my next class. A shocker.

Most: At about 9:00pm, Rosie and I entered a Sushi bar in a dirty street in Namba. The bar was bedecked with wrestling and sporting memorabilia with a suspicious number of celebrity autographs. The main feature of the bar was its selection of Tuna, a corpse of which was laying dismembered in a glass display cabinet. We ordered a platter of sashimi, sushi and tonkatsu of varous flavours. Upon hearing that Rosie liked tuna and tofu, the chef made a bizarre stack, which in its pinkness looked rather phallic. The food tasted incredible, epsecially the tuna sashimi of various grades and fattinesses and the beers kept appearing in front of us. When it came time to pay the bill, the chef said "ichiman, ichiman" to the cashier. The 10000yen bill was a shock and we reeled out the door unsure as to whether our extravagance was worth it. I suspect it wasn't - but the tuna was sensational.