Yakiniku and Karaoke

We had made plans to visit our Friends Sayo and Kevin in Kitanoda. I had setup Sayo's new computer with Japanese and English so they invited us over for Yakiniku.

Kitanoda is south of Osaka so we had to take the Nankai line. It is known as the railway to take to Koyasan, which is a mountain where you can go to stay for a night at a number of monasteries like a monk. Actually some of them are pretty posh so you can pick and choose your level of realism.

When we got there we headed out to Amagasaki by car because we wanted to go to Costco. Each couple got a yearly Costco membership because the bagels and cheese are so worth it! As usual we spent a lot of time in the warehouse so we had to hurry home for the yakiniku. We did have time for a side trip to Carrefour where we ran into James, who used to work with me . After exchanging pleasantries we headed off.

Kevin's boss had given them a neato yakiniku machine for christmas so they could have bbq anywhere they had an electrical outlet. Sayo and Kevin had bought a load of meat and veg so we gorged ourselves silly that night.

Jamie had to work the next day so she wanted to leave a little early but Kevin convinced her to stay a bit with promises of karaoke. Needless to say she was persuaded.

Kevin had been to a local place that was cozy and he was like a local celebrity there. Keep in mind that Kitanoda is a medium sized suburb of Osaka so him, his boss and a guy who owns an Italian restaurant are the only foreigners for miles. It was a little snack bar but we went in anyway. Snack bars generally charge a sitting fee, as in cover, as well as for drinks. In Osaka they usually charge 2000 yen for the cheap ones near our place. That's why we don't do karaoke near our place. It was nice and cozy and there were already some patrons there who were singing so it was nice. We go our drinks and started on the karaoke. Kevin usually gets requests for Beatles songs so he started off with "Hey Jude".

The audience was quite active and some got up and danced around while we sang on stage. They also really liked when Jamie put in the Japanese songs. Rounds of "ehhhhh??!!" and "Sugoi!" were heard. We even managed a few duets. Even shy Sayo got in on it.


We finished off the night after Kev's rendition of the Rolling Stone's "Satisfaction". He was happy that he and Sayo were going to be the talk of the town.