Buon appetito!

I feel hideously ungrateful for imagining last night`s dinner would be `just pizza`. After almost breaking a taxi door （they shut themselves, but I am not used to this), I was taken to a simple-looking restaurant (actually, it was a little Happy Eater, but I imagine the Japanese would love such road-side treats - I certainly used to), which served the most magnificent Italian food. The Menopause Sisters (as they unpleasantly insist on calling themselves) could barely translate the menu, nor could the head waiter, though they managed to muster `octopus and celery` between them, so I had to trust them - this is not really a problem. Once they had ordered, a fresh-faced waiter with a reasonable grasp of English was fished out of somewhere and dragged over, though even he couldn`t translate the food. Sachiko checked I could handle octopus, but not my views on celery. It was lucky, it wasn`t the bile-flavoured version I avoid at home and so I happily tucked in.

Again, we had absolutely masses of food. To begin, we had two main courses and three side dishes to share (bread salad, cuttlefish salad, roast lamb, raw scallops and cod with broccoli and asparagus in balsamic vinegar), though Hidako and I had to cope without a knife which was a little awkward. Just before the lamb arrived, the Head Chef came out to ask the exotic foreigner what her favourite dish was. I only wish he`d come back after I`d tasted the lamb as it was clearly the best. The cod was pretty amazing too. Oh, and the wine. It was my first non-Japanese, non-chilled red wine in four months. My god. Even with a hangover, it was delicious.

The young waiter asked Sachiko if he could experiment with his English on me and I had to answer some stock questions on how long I`d been here and where I came from, for him to almost collapse wailing `kakkoii` (cool - even, apparently, my having done politics at university). He then told me anytime I called he would come here to see me and it some time for me to realise he just meant to serve us! Sachiko said she had a `warm feeling` (this comes up a lot, I must learn it in Japanese and wow the easily impressed) and that she felt they were like my mothers. Then she and Hidako bickered about whose family I would meet first - Takako and I sat back and laughed as a small war broke out over them trying to get me on my own.

I was beginning to lament not being able to ask for pizza (I could not appear rude and reject their tremendous offerings), when the menus were pulled out again. The Head Waiter popped up and dropped in a few casual words of English, much to my companions` delight. We then had another round of food: shrimp salad; rosemary potatoes (the young Yamada-kun`s favourite, and perhaps my second); and chicken wings. Unfortunately, there were only three chicken wings, so Hidako offered to sit that course out, even though she is vegetarian and therefore can only eat chicken and fish... We had French white wine with this course and learned how to say `I am slightly drunk` in our respective adopted languages. Takako went bright red and everyone giggled too much. Sachiko particularly as she was trying to tease Takako about her husband having a mistress in China (he is younger and works away a lot, so probably has, which made it somewhat distasteful - oh, the wacky Japanese).

Yamada-kun popped over to say his shift was ending and to thank me for being there/foreign; I don`t think he could have been more excited had I been Britney Spears. Then another course was ordered, this time a pizza topped with a raw egg (it cooked slightly during the journey from serving dish to plate) and Hidako`s favourite seafood pasta. It was all tremendous, but there was still room for more. I was escorted by the remaining staff to the dessert counter and plumped for homemade tiramasu, then had to stand and have my photo taken with the Head Chef.

It is ridiculous and touching how excited some of the Japanese get to meet a foreigner and has helped me overcome my recent bout of Japanaphobia. As did the very handsome boy sat at the opposite table celebrating his sister`s (I hope!) birthday. He was far too young and with his family, although Yamada-kun being only 18 did not stop the old ladies trying to pair me off with him, so I don`t think anyone would have minded if I`d gone for it. There is no legal age of consent here, so you only need worry from a moral point of view...

Working this morning was a bit of a struggle after mixing wine and beer (I had tried to be sensible, but the Menopause Sisters have caught on to my being a heaby drinker and so decided to join me), but I`m off to the George later. I doubt I`ll stay long though. I tried to invite Suzuki-sensei to come along, but our limited shared language meant he thought it was a private party and there is no way on earth you will catch a local gate-crashing. The only time you will get close to an outright refusal is if they don`t feel they have a direct invitation from the person whose party it is. We will see. At least my hair looks nice, so they girls will probably be telling me I`m `kawaii`, even if the boys don`t.