Caution: Drinking in Japanese

Last night after work another teacher and I went to an Irish pub for a drink. For some reason, Irish culture seems to be of interest here, and quite a few Irish pubs and restaurants have sprung up in the Tokyo area.

Along with our brews we ordered fish and chips which unfortunately turned out to be nothing like that served in Irish pubs. No matter. The place started filling up and we soon realized it was their anniversary celebration. Along came two Irish musicians with a violin, guitar and accordian to entertain us. (Made me feel like doing a little step-dancing!) They were very good and even spoke Japanese!

After each song, they asked questions about anything Irish, such as how many pubs in Ireland (over 10,000) and how many Irish pubs in New York City (over 1,000). My friend and I managed to answer several of the questions and won a few prizes.

First I won a telephone fob with a miniature "pint" of beer that lights up when a call comes in. Then we each won a couple of bottles of vodka "Ice" which I had never heard of before, but they tasted just like something else I had been buying at the grocery store. When I questioned my friend about them, she burst into laughter. What I had thought were cans of carbonated grapefruit juice turned out to be alcoholic drinks! We both went into hysterics visualizing the possibility that I might have brought one to work to drink while teaching a student!

I'm really going to have to learn to read Japanese packaging!