Dinner and Almost a Show

After a full day of meetings (our last scheduled day of meetings) and support work, I was invited to go to dinner with another one of the locals, Fred (not to be confused with my co-worker who is also Fred). We left base, walked to the train station and took a train towards Tokyo for a few stops. When we got off, we were in the middle of a huge mall – otherwise known as a train station. These train stations act as neighborhood centers and the closest American equivalent I can think of is a large shopping mall. However, while most American malls spread out with long, meandering walkways, Japanese train stations go up as well as out! More on this later…

We found Fred and Fred lead us into the streets just outside the station. We walked up an almost hidden flight of stairs for 4 floors and entered a non-descript place that seemed like someone’s house at first. As soon as we entered though, it was clear that this was a restaurant – a very small restaurant. The décor felt like a cave. There were three tables and a “party room” that would hold about 10 people around a table with small chairs. The entire time we were there, we were the only people in the restaurant. My American sensibilities could not see how the place could stay in business being so far off the main path and 4 stories up a hidden staircase, but I was reminded that this wasn’t America…

Our hostess was wonderfully polite and gracious as she took our order (assisted by Fred of course). While we waited for our meal to arrive, we casually chatted and every so often, our hostess would come over to join us. Her English was good, if halting upon occasion. Clearly she was not used to English-speaking customers. The meal arrived one small dish at a time and was quite good. After dinner, we chatted some more with our hostess and finally left with promises to return when we were in the area.

It was our intent to hop into a Karaoke bar for an hour or so, but we had such a nice time at the restaurant that we’d stayed up too late (one more workday…) so we headed back to the train station and found our way back to the base. The weather had turned a bit brisk, so it was nice to be back in my room and turn in under the covers.