This is a picture from yesterday's sushi extravaganza, and is I think the best picture of Michael, or just about anyone else or that matter, that I've ever seen. At this point he was confronting what was to be the last of his adventures into Sushiland, an extremely delicious piece of lightly grilled and sauced eel. Coming as it did after four raw or pickled things, the prospect of putting any amount of an eel in his mouth was just about too much for him, and it took him about 15 minutes of making faces like this one before he would finally give in and try it. All in all, an exceptionally good time was had by me, let me say that. More squeamish relatives need to come visit me so that I can shove plates of barely-dead sea life in front of them and make blithe and self-satisfied noises about how delicious x, y, or z completely unedible tidbit is while they struggle to inflict fatal damage on themselves with chopsticks.
Did more sticker pictures today. Mission Turn Grandmother and Cousin into 16-Year-Old Japanese Girl is almost complete.
Today was really the triumph of Japanese cultural experience, far more than sushi even: karaoke. After much cajoling, Grammy and Michael both agreed to come, and after a little sassing Michael rocked the house with a smashing rendition of 2Pac's "California Love," which he did as a duet with Ayed. I was actually stunned at how well the boy can rap, but unfortunately my urgings for him to do more went unheeded. Grammy just watched, but happily I believe that both had an exceptionally good time of the evening regardless. I am pretty solidly convinced at this point that it's almost impossible not to enjoy an evening of Japanese karaoke, especially with the right people. I'm actually almost ashamed to admit how much I like karaoke now; I think that, given the opportunity, I would do it as much as once a week, an admission which sounds altogether too much like saying that kiddie porn or strangling kittens can be just great when taken in moderation. I'm still fairly certain that karaoke in the American style would be largely a waste of time, but again that's sort of like saying that murder with an axe is all kinds of fun, but murder with knives is simply not done.
- Gyaa! I'm give up
Naka-ku, Hiroshima
730-0803
JAPAN