Adventures in Japan

Nate left and we immediately stopped taking pictures

Nate has gone home to Vancouver. If he'd stuck around another day, he could have partook of our little unplanned/unintentional pub crawl. Guaranteed jet lag preventative.

It started simply enough. We (including Trevor, who's here for another week) were going to meet David at the stand-up bar in Umeda, have a couple drinks, and go home. Except the stand-up bar was full, so we wandered around for far too long looking for somewhere else to drink, but everything else was full too. Eventually we ended up back at the stand-up bar and found a free table. Usually when we drink there we eat tiny servings of Japanese-style pub food. Today we ate soup. Chanko (the stew sumo wrestlers eat) and chige (spicy Korean soup). Each came served on its own little heating apparatus, complete with an intensely hot candle-like thing at the bottom. Maybe not ideal for the tiny tables at the bar, but oh, they kept us warm!

We hung out at the stand-up bar for a while, then went to Café Absinthe because David wanted Guinness. Having learned my lesson last time we were there, I avoided any drink with foul, green liquor in it, and everyone was happy. We didn't stay there too long because we had plans to meet Ben back at the Green Leaf. The plan changed en route to the last train back to Abeno, whereupon we found ourselves in a bar in a basement somewhere in Shinsaibashi. As I recall, we were only went in because one or all of us really wanted to use their toilet. There were no other customers in there and I think the guy behind the bar was itching to close up so we didn't stick around, but we ate some really good complimentary chocolates before we left.

From there we went to some other bar with nice decor, but kinda lousy music and I fell asleep for a while. That's pretty much all I remember about that place, except the guys said our waitress was hot. I don't even remember ordering a drink.

I don't remember why we left that place, but next on our travels was a bar that may or may not have had something to do with charcoal. We sat on tatami mats in a loft-type space with a low, slanty ceiling and drank what I remember as being rather nice drinks and a really yummy, crunchy yet creamy, chocolaty dessert. Plus another dessert that while not at all bad, wasn't nearly as good as the chocolate one. I think the music was pretty good too, but my memories are pretty hazy at this point. I just hope I remember the place well enough to find it again. It was pretty cool.

Then we stopped to eat, but I'm not sure that any of us were hungry. I know I wasn't. I ordered a full set meal anyway. Then we caught a train home. And then there was a bit of sleeping.