Who wants to meet Dick?

Good morning! Well, good evening for you all.

Last night was Michael and Grant's final night in Japan. They should be on a plane right now (and for the next 10 hours or so) on their way back to the States. Anyways, they read about a restaurant in their guidebook that they really wanted to go to called Kagaya, so they made a reservation in advance and we went there around 6:20 (we were told to get there early). Turned out it was actually just down the street from where I live. Just about a 5 minute walk. From the description, I expected a large-ish venue--the guidebook said it's dinner and hilarious entertainment that proves to be a better experience than the Imperial Palace--but in fact it was quite small, with seats for only about 20 people total. The waiter, upon entering, acted completely normal. We took off our shoes, sat down (this was a sit-on-the-floor style restaurant), and really couldn't see why this was such a big deal. Things started to get strange pretty quickly, though. The waiter, whose name on his business card is actually Mark (but he is clearly Japanese, I don't know if thats his real name or not) Kagaya, brought out warm hand towels and served them to us on the head of a robotic An-pan-man, a famous cartoon character here (picture below), and then pretended to speak as An-pan-man, welcoming us, etc. (Mark spoke very good English)He followed up this act by presenting us with the drink menu, which was written in Japanese, so I guess he felt he had to explain it to us in English. He did this by acting out most of the items, one way or another, as a robot. He would draw the outline of a beer-bottle in the air and then air-drink it and feign drunkenness, etc. After we ordered our beer and sake, he presented us with a list of countries (America, Japan, China, France, England, Brazil etc.) and asked us to pick one. We, of course, had no idea what this was for, but Michael went ahead and chose France. After that he just went about his business as normal and we couldn't figure out why the heck we had to choose a country. Until about 5 minutes later, when the French music began to play on a stereo in the corner. Then, from a back room, out comes Mark with an easel and a beret-like hat on, with a look of stereotypical French je-ne-sais-quois on his face, while gazing into the "distance." He then set up the easel and began drawing portraits of various patrons, myself included, with a black crayon. He spent just a couple minutes on each portrait and they were really pretty impressive for being so quick. They were like cartoon versions of whoever he drew.

After the French act, he brought us our drinks and then proceeded to explain the food menu to us. He did this with the use of a monkey hand puppet, who was supposed to represent himself, while Mark was supposed to represent the customer. There were 4 menu options, going from least to most expensive (light food, regular food, fancy food, and lots of food with all-you-can-drink), but you could not actually choose what food you were going to get, it was just a whole lot of smaller dishes. So, to explain the menu, he acted out 4 different scenarios in which you might order each option. I think Mark really likes pretending he's drunk because he acted like it for most of the scenarios. It was all hilarious (I was pretty much laughing hysterically non-stop), but in particular was option 3, in which the customer ordered the fancy food because he had a lady friend joining him for dinner and then Mark went ahead and acted out the lady's reaction to the delicious food... (in a high, soft voice) "Oh, so delicious" *takes another bite* .."oh, Michael, you're so cool" (taking the name from the reservation)... "Oh, I can't go home tonight..." *another bite* .. "oh, Michael, stay with me until morning"

Finally, for option 4, with lots of food, and lots of drink, he of course pretended to be drunk again, and then pretended to "stuff his face" with air food, then to eat the monkey puppet, and then to try to eat me! Since it was their last night in Japan, we wanted to go a little fancier, and ordered the fancy food (option 3). The food was fantastic. Some tofu dishes, eggplant, radishes, asparagus, fish, chicken, and more. It was so delicious.

Oh, I forgot to mention, he served the sake in a pitcher with an electronic fountain-style spout moulded to look like a boy peeing (you pushed a button to make him pee out the sake). And the beer in these mugs that had uneven weights in the base of them that spun when you picked them up, so it shook the mug like crazy. It was quite funny at first, but then it got annoying because you had to press on the bottom of the mug while you were holding it to make it not shake, and I had to do that the rest of the night.

Some other countries he acted out: Brazil, doing some kind of wild dance that I can't even begin to describe. America, as... shoot, I can't remember. England's was insane because it really had no real relation to England--he first did a little puppet show with a frog puppet, and said he was from England (that was the only England-related thing about it) and he said he had a brother named Dick who lives in Tokyo, and would we like to meet Dick? Then he pops out from behind the puppet 'stage' in a full frog costume, and pretends to be Dick. He didn't really do anything, that was basically it for that one (there are a couple pictures of him in the frog suit). He also did Japan, which was fairly impressive, actually, he did a traditional-style Japanese dance with a fan that was pretty elaborate and wasn't really funny at all, just cool. Oh, I remember, for America, he didn't act anything out, but rather brought out this American-made game that was less of a game, actually, and more of a torture device, and he forced us to play it. The game was: 4 people grab these metal handles with buttons where your thumb is, and you watch a light that flashes red. As soon as the light changes to blue, you have to push the button as fast as you can, and the last person to hit the button gets shocked (or if you hit the button before it changes you get shocked). I'm pretty sure they don't make that game anymore, probably because they got sued like crazy, but it was scary. I played twice, though, and didn't lose, so #phew#! Finally, he also acted out China, pretending to be a Bruce Lee-style martial artist.

All in all, it was a great experience, and I have yet to go to the Imperial Palace, but I would believe that Kagaya was a better experience than that (mostly because you can't actually go to the Imperial Palace, just to the gardens around it).

Today I'm going to an interior design fair at Big Sight. I'm really excited about it. There should be some awesome displays. I will be taking my camera and, assuming it's going to be as cool as I think it will be, will take lots of pictures. I'm going to this one on my own, which is kind of nice. It means I can look at the things I want to look at and not have to worry about following Ted around.

After that I will be heading to Karaoke with Aya. We're meeting at 7 at Shibuya. I'm also, as you know, really excited about that too. I love karaoke. And I love being able to sing the one Japanese song I can sing at karaoke, especially if I'm with a Japanese person! haha.

Alright, I gotta get ready to go to Big Sight. Love you all!