Sake
So I've been in Japan 2 weeks and I've already discovered two of the most essential things: Japanese bureacracy and sake. The first we wont go into just yet, except to say that everything you've ever heard about it it probably true.
The latter, however, deserves its own ode. Ode to sake, which I imbibed during this evenings repast, and which is truly a queen amongst drinks. I havent been so happy for so long with so few side effects for well, ever. Ok, ask me tomorrow whether I still feel this way. But presently, let me recommend to you, my dear friends, the delights of a cold *pint* of sake, called "little boys", served in an exquisite tiny pottery cup about the side of your thumb, and downed copiously in the company of half-mad English teachers. Ah, the gaijin expat experience! We celebrated the fact that all of us had made it through the first week of semester without quitting, but nobody told me that the real milestone is seeing through the first teacher's piss up.
Sake O sake, see me through the day,
O sweet Spring sake, soft like summer rain,
light as a cloud of cherry blossom...
I:ve had sake in Australia, and my god it tasted like vinegar dregs washed up in a bowl of rice porridge. You:ve got to try real Japanese sake - my preference is cold, though apparently there:s nothing like a warm sake to make your toes curl on a chill winters night.
But a word of caution about Japanese beer. In this particular Inn (where you take off your shoes and put them in a locker at the door before entering the establishment), beer (Kirin of course), is served in Pints. Japanese Pints, which means they are perfect for Lilliputians. I wanted to steal a glass it was so cute, but the sake told me not to. Besides, I was laughing too hard as I staggered home to cope with a stolen Japanese pint glass. One of my friends is a giant Irishman with a voice straight out of Wallace and Gromit, and he was snorting these pints by the thimbleful, commenting that though the glasses were shaped exactly like pint glasses, they were only fit for serving seven year old kids, so tiny they were.
I:ll have to post you a picture. Something to look forward to: sake and Japanese pints (thimbles) of beer.
Trust an Aussie...
cheers (or is that Kampai?!)
The latter, however, deserves its own ode. Ode to sake, which I imbibed during this evenings repast, and which is truly a queen amongst drinks. I havent been so happy for so long with so few side effects for well, ever. Ok, ask me tomorrow whether I still feel this way. But presently, let me recommend to you, my dear friends, the delights of a cold *pint* of sake, called "little boys", served in an exquisite tiny pottery cup about the side of your thumb, and downed copiously in the company of half-mad English teachers. Ah, the gaijin expat experience! We celebrated the fact that all of us had made it through the first week of semester without quitting, but nobody told me that the real milestone is seeing through the first teacher's piss up.
Sake O sake, see me through the day,
O sweet Spring sake, soft like summer rain,
light as a cloud of cherry blossom...
I:ve had sake in Australia, and my god it tasted like vinegar dregs washed up in a bowl of rice porridge. You:ve got to try real Japanese sake - my preference is cold, though apparently there:s nothing like a warm sake to make your toes curl on a chill winters night.
But a word of caution about Japanese beer. In this particular Inn (where you take off your shoes and put them in a locker at the door before entering the establishment), beer (Kirin of course), is served in Pints. Japanese Pints, which means they are perfect for Lilliputians. I wanted to steal a glass it was so cute, but the sake told me not to. Besides, I was laughing too hard as I staggered home to cope with a stolen Japanese pint glass. One of my friends is a giant Irishman with a voice straight out of Wallace and Gromit, and he was snorting these pints by the thimbleful, commenting that though the glasses were shaped exactly like pint glasses, they were only fit for serving seven year old kids, so tiny they were.
I:ll have to post you a picture. Something to look forward to: sake and Japanese pints (thimbles) of beer.
Trust an Aussie...
cheers (or is that Kampai?!)