Scribbler's Cafe

Second Wedding Anniversary

Matt and I ventured out to Osaka Tuesday night to celebrate our second wedding anniversary. We left at night, just after Kiomye had fallen asleep and Dan had settled himself in with a movie in our living room. Matt practically skipped the entire way to the train station; he was so excited that we finally got a chance to go out by ourselves.

We wandered through the narrow alleys of the amusement quarter working our way through the hipsters, the salary men, the neon signs and the vendors handing out coupons for half price drinks and two-for-one sushi. We gawked at the Merry Christmas Love Hotel and the giant robotic dragon climbing up the wall of the karaoke bar. The lights of a pachinko parlor lured us detracted us from our path and we wasted a couple hundred yen watching small metallic balls bounce down obstacle courses populated by plastic figurines of hysteric teen-age girls. I beat Matt at a shooting game in an arcade for the first time in the history of our relationship. We ended out stroll at a restaurant that featured a cartoon bull on its windows and door. Matt wanted beef so we figured this was the place.

We couldn’t read any of the items on the menu. Our katakana skills have gotten rusty and there was too much kanji thrown into the mix for us to figure anything out. As everything was reasonably priced under 1000 yen (10 bucks), we finally just pointed at a couple of items of the menu and asked for coca-cola. Matt suggested that we just imagine we’re eating at someone’s house and so whatever we are served will be a nice surprise.

About a minute later, our waitress came back to our table carrying two trays of raw beef sliced up thin and two bowls of rice. There was a small round grill set into the center of the table. We plucked slices raw meat off the trays and flopped them down on the grill. The grill was so hot that it singed my arm hairs when I flipped my meat over. As soon as the meat lost its bloody color and started to sizzle, we’d pick it up with our chopsticks, dip it in a sweet sesame sauce, then stuff it in our mouths with a bite of rice. Delicious! The waitresses watched us discretely from the corner to make sure we knew what to do and did eat the meat raw.

Matt and I had to head to the station after dinner so we wouldn’t miss the last train back to Nishinomiya. The trains stop running at about midnight - at which point the taxis triple their rates. The trains and the taxis are owned by the same company. Sounds a little sketchy to me.

We returned home to find Dan well advanced into an Xbox game and Kiomye conked out in the middle of our bed, her face pressed into the comforter and her bottom high in the air. She hadn’t woken at all when we were gone. We said thank you and good night to Dan and placed Kiomye in her own bed. The day had already been long and the evening exhausted us. We cranked up the air conditioning in our bedroom and retreated to our cool, welcoming bed.

posted by Scribbler @ Friday, September 17, 2004