ugh

Of course, I feel massively hung over today. Last night we had nomihodii (all you can drink) with our yakiniku, and, although it was about GBP7, being greedy gaijin, we tried to drink the place dry and had to be asked to leave as the staff needed to get home to sleep! Once I got home, I saw I had emails from Karen and George asking where I was, so, thinking something might be amiss, headed back out and found myself in the George - a solitary customer begging for free gin (the cash points shut obscenely early here, Japan having not realised the purpose of an ATM) before going to another bar down the road with George for wine and seedy entertainment.

Yesterday was generally a good day. I got my Take Off 1s to practice asking `do you like` questions. One boy who was trying to freak me out was massively disappointed that I liked moths, but did get me by asking my opinion of toilets. I got a nice plant cutting from Sachiko, one of the Menopause Sisters, and some anco cakes (I don`t know the official name, but they are very sweet and very oishii!) from Hidako. Next week, Takako is away, so I might take them a token gift to up the gift-giving stakes. Maybe they`ll get me my Mac!

Golden Week is coming up (not a patch on Taiwan`s Tomb Sweeping Day!) and I`m going to meet Rachel in Hiroshima, which will be good. On the way, I stop off in Nagoya to meet Kaiah for some camper entertainment. This afternoon, Atsuko took me to buy my shinkansen ticket, which was a hideous ordeal with a hangover and something I clearly couldn`t have handled alone (I have said it before, but the Japanese make such a meal out of everything!!). I had to go to the ATM to get the cash, which was handy as I nearly threw up from the unnatural heat in the shop!