Date in Tennoji

I went out with Kaito again tonight. Of all the boys I have dated here in Japan he is by far my favorite. It's a little stiff to make conversation some times but when we get rolling it's always interesting and informative. He likes fantasy books, german, beer and Japanese foods. So when he talks about these subjects it's really a fun time. We went to an izakaya chain store (The drunken tiger, if you must know) for dinner and ended up staying for about two and a half hours. My most memorable moments were talking about WWII and Germany's part in it. Along with newspapers and news programs around the world and whose are the best. He's really in tune with what's going on, but he admits that all his reading probably is what is making him so tired. So, we switched topics and held forth a long time on Yaki Tori.

I learned how to tell exactely what icky part of the bird I'm eating and how to say each in japanese and English. One of the best parts was when he was describing the gizzard and said that it was the part that was where sand was stored. All i could do was give him the grossed out look, he just laughed. Men, Japanese or otherwise, are truely set in their ways. He told me about Horimon Yaki- which is basically all the garbage parts of the bird that are fried up and eaten. Hori is slang for throw away and mon is thing. Thus, I said, it basically means friend garbage. I was impressed with my wit but I suspect it didn't translate. Or else it actually wasn't that amusing anyway. Oh well. Incidently Kai's favorite fried grossness is hearts. I know how to order that in japanese, too. It has the same name as a very famous, very contemplative novel by Natsume Soseki. Something feels like counterpoint to me in this case.

After the izakaya kicked us out-two hour limit, and the place was filing up- we went over to the Green Leaf cafe in Abeno. They are closing down so that the people who run it can go their separate ways. Kai quizzed the bar tender who said that they didn't think it was doing really well- which makes sense to me as I have never exactely seen the place jumpin'. Kai is funny because he orders cocktails. He also likes cocktails that are sweet and not very popular. He's perplexed more than one bartender in his life. But we eventually made it to a table, where I found out that Kalua Milk after sickness (and near alchohol poisoning 3 weeks ago) did not agree with me. Thus I managed to spill it all over the table and poor Kai's jacket. He took it well and I am vowing not to talk with my hands outside of school anymore. (fat chance)

We really had a good time. I had some tea and read a little of Kai's most recent foray into Western fantasy novels (Robert Jorden's Wheel of Time series). I got to know a little more about what he likes and what the genera means to him. I also learned that Japanese fantasy novels sometimes use English names and also have pictures. I was impressed that Kai actually spends time visualizing the scene when he reads. I speed over things to get to the resolution of the story as fast as I can. Two different ways of looking at things and two people who enjoy reading equally as much as each other. I always find this kind of thing strange.

Kai also made a lot of Latin jokes. He's a funny guy. In the same way I am funny. Which is to say pretty much not at all on a normal humor scale. So, of course, I laughed a lot. Good times were had by all (except the other people I spilled my drink on).