Searching Your Soul for the Forgotten Word

So last night we had, as some of you know, Obligatory Payday Dinner Party where the president invites all the workers except for the girl to go out for dinner and drinks and then karaoke.  Remember way back when I had a whole octopus head?  Well, we went to the same restaurant.  It's the president's favorite, actually, so we go there nearly every time he's in town.  This time, the dinner theme was whale.  There were all sorts of assorted whale cuts, from the unrecognizable whale parts to the dripping-blood-pretty-sure-it's-whale-steak parts.  It was actually quite delicious, I thought.  I was told that even amongst the Japanese, not everyone likes whale meat.  But I sure did.  I filled up on raw whale so I wouldn't be tempted by the raw octopus heads that accompanied the whale.  From the beginning of dinner, by the way, I was racking my brain for the translation of "whale."  That is to say, I was racking my brain for the ENGLISH translation of "kujira."  Right at the onset, everyone was talking about it being a "kujira" themed dinner, and I immediately thought "I know THAT word!  I wonder what it means!"  Then about halfway through dinner I remembered, and even though it was delicious I did one of those movie moment stops where someone finds out what they're eating is actually something disgusting and they nearly puke.  Then I stopped myself and was like "get a grip Nikku, you eat whale all the time."  Little did I know I was lying, that was the first time I'd ever had whale!

After dinner, like I mentioned, we went to the karaoke bar Snack Funny.  It's also the president's favorite.  I was pressured into singing a bunch of American songs like the Beatles (get it?), while everyone else was pressured into singing at all because I told them I would beat them up if they didn't.  All in all, a good time was had by all.  One of my coworkers even imbibed so much that he was pretty much worthless at work today!  What fun!

Now, on a more serious note, did I mention that my bank ATM also doesn't open until 8:45, which is conveniently right exactly when I'm supposed to be at work?  Well, it's true.  I'm pretty sure my bank contacted my company right before I started working here and said "We're afraid of Americans.  What are your operating hours so that we can schedule around them?"  But here's one service that Japanese banks provide that American banks don't and I sure wish they would.  You can insert your bank BOOK (similar to your check balancing book) into the ATM instead of your ATM card, and not only will you be able to access your account but the ATM will balance your books for you!  It even prints all of the transactions you've had between the last time you inserted the book and this time.  For example, mine only had one entry to begin with--my opening balance.  Then I used my card to withdraw money, and there was the 105-yen fee for that, and then my direct deposit from the company, and then some weird $100 charge that I don't know what it's for, and THEN I used my bank book to access the account and it printed ALL of those transactions right into it!  It even turns the page once it's full!

Ok, that's it for today.  Sorry for the lack of photos...it was actually warm AND sunny when I got off work today but it was also The Day After Payday Shopping Time and by the time I left the grocery store it was dark.  I might have taken photos at the grocery store but I was racing against the clock to get to my ATM before it closed.

Trivia from this post:

• My spellcheck does not recognize spellcheck (ok ok, I know) or amongst, but seems to think betempted is a real word.
• I do actually know what the $100 charge is
• The front of my bank book is REALLY cute
• I'm pretty sure up to 4 people had heart attacks at the grocery store when this white-skinned, blue-eyed, blond-haired foreigner approached them and asked them, respectively, "Do you have business-card holders?", "Do you have wi-fi routers?", and "Where are the eggs?" (One question was asked to 2 people simultaneously)
• The FritoLay Japan slogan is apparently "Pop Your Time."