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June Birthday Bash Extraordinaire!

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L-R: Katsu, Saya, Mari, Chelsea 
On June 25th, we gathered a surprising amount of people together for dinner and karaoke, under the guise of June birthday celebrations.  Birthdays are a great excuse to plan a large party in Japan, not that one needs a great excuse to have a party here.  Especially an all-you-can-eat-and-drink party, otherwise known as tabenomihodai.  We invited a wide range of people, and then some of them invited other people, and we ended up with a group of about 20 for dinner and 14 for karaoke!

L-R: Chiko,   , Laura, Dan, Bill, Stephan, Rachael
We started the evening at Godmother's Restaurant in Gifu.  Rachael and I found the place a few months back after a fortuitous trip to a mall near her home, where we met Mugi and Sato (featured later in karaoke pictures).  They both speak amazing English, having lived in the States before.  Currently they work for a company called Kobayashi Noodle Co, that develops gluten-free rice noodles of all kinds.  So, we have fabulous Italian pasta and pizza that's very hard to find in Japan, along with gluten-free options for me?  Amazing!  How lucky!

L-R: Shio, Atsushi, Kiri, Erin, Lauren
Mugi put together a wonderful set course menu for our party that came out gradually over two hours.  He made everything except the onion rings in a gluten-free option as well, with the help of Kobayashi (you can order these noodles online, and they now sell in NYC).  Matt got tons of presents, none of which he was expecting.  It is strange and wonderful to have developed such a large group of close friends, all of whom are a joy to be around, all of whom show up to a birthday party.  It's different from what we last experienced in the States, for sure.

After dinner, we went to karaoke, where we proceeded to blow out our voices for about four hours.  Everyone hammed it up spectacularly.  It was a party of epic proportions, fitting as it was Matt's, Bill's, Shio's, and Atsushi's birthday month, so we celebrated four birthdays in one party!


Saya and Matt team up for a Japanese duet. They were so cute!

Sato rocks out with both mics!


Air garage band, karaoke style.  Vocals: Katsu; air guitar: Stephan; air drums: Bill;
air cymbals: Mari.


To the right, a few of us with Mugi (in the Pearl Jam shirt, center).  It was our first time to go out with Sato and Mugi, having just patronized their noodle company and restaurant previously.  It was a great night for making new friends and solidifying older acquaintances into more permanent friendships.  It brought into perspective how lucky we have been here, and how welcoming Japan has been to us.
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