Put This Drink on the Bill...Murray

An adventure from a date I can't remember.

When I prepped movies to bring with me to Japan, I decided that I wouldn't need many since I should be out and about in the city. But I decided a movie I would need to watch if I ever felt upset was the wonderful Lost in Translation. While of course, the bits and pieces of Japanese society scattered throughout the film provided a good novelty factor, this movie is meaningful to me because of the characters. Both Bill Murray and Scarlet Johanson's characters are feeling isolated and unsure of themselves. This being my first time in a new country, I assumed that at some point I would feel the same type of isolation and want to watch a movie which I could relate to. Fortunately this never happened, but I still am a fan of the film. Upon realization that the movie's famous bar is fairly close by, I jumped at the opportunity to go. Recruiting my new butt buddy Valley chan, a girl from class who we'll call TBA chan (because her official pseudonym is still TBA), Turtle chan (because she's usually late to class), and a new friend of whom I won't assign a name. Because the bar is fairly upscale, and I hadn't worn my suit since I arrived in Japan, I couldn't think of a better opportunity. The ladies followed suit, and soon we were walking the mean streets of Shinjuku looking lovely. However there were a couple of downsides to looking as good as we did that night.

Japanese, more specifically Japanese men, are known for groping girls on trains. This is a common occurrence, and if you read Gaijin Smash's FAQ page, Azrael explains very clearly the scope of this problem. So the danger for my lovely companions for the evening was the very real threat of being groped. I always walked slightly behind them when entering a train, especially a crowded one, in order to make sure a lonely business man didn't get handsy. As for me, the problem lay in the fact that the suit actually made me blend in more. Instead of looking dashing, I looked like a businessman who had just gotten off work. Thus, while the girls gained attention from the Japanese men, I was thoroughly ignored by Japanese women....sigh.

The bar itself was much smaller than pictured in the movie, but I guess that's the power of good cinematography. The bar is surprisingly narrow, and the stage, complete with grand piano, took up a fair amount of room. I requested that we be seated in a small corner area near the windows. I'm a fan of high views of cities, and the view from the bar at night was absolutely outstanding. We sat and ordered our drinks which, being an upscale bar were just as expensive as you would think. We sat, enjoyed our drinks, discussed, and listened to some live jazz.

After departing from the bar, and wanting to flaunt our style that night, we decided to head to a another upscale restaurant. So we trekked back the center of Shinjuku and found ourselves a McDonalds. Thus we spent the rest of the night, enjoying Shaka Shaka chicken, and wandering the streets of Kabukicho. Classy...

Ganbatte,
-DPN

Today's word is Onegaishimasu (pronounced: oh-ne-guy-she-masu). This word means something along the lines of please or please do me this favor. Usage: Vodka martini onegaishimasu; English: Please get me a vodka martini. Usage note: This is one of those words that is very important in order to sound polite, which is a must in Japan. But to be fair there are other words for please, and they all have their specific usage. So this word has a lot of nuances that I really am not qualified to explain. My general rule of thumb, and any Japanese experts out there feel free to explain it better in my comments page and I'll post it later, if I'm ordering something or asking for something not necessitating a verb, I'll use onegaishimasu. For instance I wouldn't use onegaishimasu in this situation; please watch this video. Feel free to research the matter and I'll try to clarify later.

I picked this word simply because it was about heading to a bar and ordering drinks. Nothing too deep about it...

P.S. I love Scarlet Johanson...just thought you'd like to know.