House Warming

I went with Felicity, as usual, to Aikido this morning. Sawako told me that she enjoyed it when she came, but is not going to continue as she does not have the correct clothes and because we are leaving soon so will not know anybody there. Slightly odd reasoning, but fair enough.

It was fun, as it always is, though Felicity was complaining that one of the guys always twists your elbow when he drops you to the ground. I have noticed that as well and try to avoid him, or alter my fall to cope. I guess that it means he is good, but it doesn't half hurt!

When I got back, I watched a little anime, before sitting down to watch 20 minutes of Eddie Izzard's "Definite Article" with James and Drummond, which was quite funny, though only a small fraction of the 2 hour show. We had to stop watching, though, as it was time to go to Kanashima's house-warming party.

There were plenty of people, though I believe ours was the third party in the last couple of days. Her new house is very lovely, with wooden planking on the floor, a strange handrail on the side of the staircase, up to the 'playroom'. She seems very happy with it. The construction men that had built it were there (we met them at the house blessing) and were cooking a spit roast: a hunk of beef and a chicken on a skewer over a charcoal fire. Slices were cut off as they cooked and served along with many, many other dishes. These included normal chicken drumsticks, chicken drumsticks cooked in coca-cola, sashimi, sushi, raw tuna, grapes, crisps, sandwiches, etc. The list goes on. We sat outside in the garden, being brought food and generally waited on. It was not an environment conducive to making new friends. There were a few other people there that I recognised: Notomi-san, who works at the university and came with us to Hokkaido, and another lady who has twice brought her son into school. He had a cold, though.

Later in the evening, Kanashima announced that the Jazz Band had arrived and we were all led upstairs. We were made to sit down in front of a table with a cloth over it. Only once we were settled, did Kanashima's husband receive permission to "turn on" the jazz band and remove the cover. Underneath were a set of instrument-holding figures, who moved in time with the MIDI-fied jazz music emitted from the speakers. It was quite amusing, though maybe the fact that Kanashima had bought it especially for the party was the funniest thing of all.

Afterwards, it was announced that the head construction worker would play his saxophone, but first he performed a couple of magic tricks. The first involved sticking a pen through a 1000yen note, before removing it to find the note untouched. In the second he carried two chopsticks in his palms, seemingly defying gravity. It was quite amusing. He played Green Sleeves and a few other pieces, which went down well. It is surprising how confident some Japanese are. They are either that or totally shy, which is often worse.

The barbershop was forced to hastily reform, having not practiced since before Christmas, I think we did pretty well. The crowd seemed to enjoy it and we even remembered some of the actions. Drum, James and I then did our traditional "Norwegian Wood" before we launched into "Happy Birthday" for Jamese. He is 22 today. We had much cake, including some Kanashima had prepared.

A few older ladies gave a small Noh performance, one singing and another playing a Noh drum and saying "noh" at the appropriate moments. It is quite a lovely art form, though, from what I hear, it is pretty much the same thing for a whole 4 hour play. We only had 5 minutes worth, so it was much more bearable.

To end the night was a raffle of sorts. We each randomly picked a ticket, and then prizes were produced with numbers attached. I won nothing, but everyone received a little gift of some kind. Mine is an odd shaped soon, either used for scooping tea leaves, or sugar, depending on whom you ask.

We signed Kanashima's guest book, though I think I used the wrong kanji for her name, thinking back about it now. Oops. Everybody else left, leaving just us students and family. We sat about, munching our way through the left over cheese and biscuits, crisps, and grapes, which kept getting restocked. I came back with a few of the guys, whilst the others stayed a while longer. It was good to see Kanashima again and I enjoy looking around her house and eating her food.