The First Month

The Enkai - The Japanese Office Party

After work today, we went to a traditional Japanese restaurant for my welcome party. By traditional, I mean that in the upstairs of the building, there are several private tatami rooms. For the uninitiated, tatami mats are hard floor coverings about 1 meter by 2 meters. Tatami mats are covered with woven fibers, and look kind of like a Hawaiian beach mat. I'm a little hungover, so my English isn't going to be so great today - I'll describe tatami better later. Anyway, everyone sits on the floor (men cross-legged and women Japanese style) around a low table. Lots of food is served, and even more beer and sake.

When I made it clear that I would eat anything, the guy next to me ordered me some sort of soup that no one else would eat. It was tasty! Anyway, we all drank a lot, everyone loosened up, and a good time was had.

Funny thing is, and I read this in a Japanese etiquette handbook, the party atmosphere doesn't lead to closer bonding the next day. In the office today, everyone is quiet and reserved - or maybe they're just hungover!!!

Well, it's almost time for the workday to begin, so it's time to sign off. Maybe I can get the damn website up and running today... I should have been a computer science major....