February 22, 2004
The Boys' Bikini Birthday
If you have been in Japan for, like, a week, you'll probably be aware of the "birthday concept" at restaurants. The entire waiting crew comes out in silly hats, bearing a (rather expensive) "parfait" with sparklers, with "Happy Birthday to ya" blaring out at 400 decibels over the PA system. Not just a few lines. The entire song. After a verse and the chorus, chances are we're getting the hint.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) we had the cheek to bring our own cake to the Asian Kitchen, so we didn't get the royal OTT birthday treatment. Instead our crowd sang "Happy Birthday" (the abridged version) to Al and Matt. The rest of the restaurant stopped in their tracks and you could almost see the cogs ticking over - "You mean you can bring your own cake to the restaurant? What a concept!" I'll bet our cake was a shit load tastier than the parfait. I mean, whoever heard of a birthday parfait???
After dinner, most of us headed off to a karaoke parlour in Ikebukuro. Now, you get hassled by the Karaoke Touts all over the place, but when you say "kekkou desu!" ("nah, I'm sweet thanks") they generally leave you alone.
But this one guy in a blue raincoat hassled Chie the entire length of Sunshine 60 street. I went up to him and said all the polite "sod off" things, but he would not take the hint. I asked Ray what the Japanese was for "Piss off, Mate", and he reeled off something, but the pit-bull kept at us. A couple of the girls cooed, "but he can give us 10% off!" Yeah, sure, but he's just so damn annoying! At what cost a discount?
We ended up at Utahiroba, home of the infamous "Bikini rating" system. Depending on your "performance" your percentage goes up and up and up, and all the while little squares are coming off this bikini clad woman on screen. If you get the all-hallowed 100%, the little itty bitty square covering the "pink section" is revealed. Apparently our performances were below par last night. The highest we got was 96%. Oh, the tantalisation!
It was enough to make us break down and cry. Well, Al, Matt and Ray looked pretty close to tears. May have been the cheap beer, though...
Hmm sounds a bit like hindley street here... cept with less fights... LOL
Dang, why can't we have nudy karaoke places in adelaide?
LOL
oo lots of variety in one night *grin* didnt get the blocks coming off concept though. oh well. just scrolled down and read you and your mister are getting married :) mucho hugs.
Kim, love what you've done to your site with the changing photos at the top (in widescreen!) We're all looking forward to you both coming home in May for the big wedding! Everyone here is talking about it. Don't worry, you'll still see plenty of Japan in Cairns
(with sunshine and beaches included!) so you can both ease yourselves away slowly.
ugh. haven't yet been subjected to bikini karaoke. thank god.
asian kitchen WITHOUT the cecile b. de mille b'day extravaganza, how well planned!