いせや receptacle one

the communal eating of anything, when done right, is a wonderful occasion.In one of our favourite spots of tokyo, kichijouji (the others are koenji and shimokitazawa) we had long been going to a particular pub-esque place on the edge of a large park where the ghibli museum is (though it's a big park) (it is not a vantage point for tottoros) (the bar isn't a vantage point)

the combined bar, pub, yakitori (the fried totality of a chicken in various separations of its essence)(on wooden spiky sticks) is called iseya

mio's little brother the security guard took us to another iseya, not by a park, much smaller.We ate among pensioner alcoholics, lonely tired businessmen, and a few musician types out on dates. Recently there has been anti-japan sentiments from the gaijins affronted at the fingerprinting procedures and so on, and it is easy to be drawn into this. But do not confuse a government with the unfortunate governed. Drunken old ladies are far better for finding niceness. I was spoken to by one such lady as I waited for the toilet, and it was the first time anyone in tokyo has spoken to me , unprompted, with no attention paid to my gaijin-status. (she was an old drunken lady)

I raise my now post-christmas glass to her.