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Today is Eel day.  Everybody eats eel today. This makes me happy as I like eel.   I got treated like a panda today though when I ate eel.  The people on the table next to us in the eel restaurant said in Japanese and very loudly to Reiko “He uses chopsticks (hashi) well doesn`t he”  Pretending not to understand I carried on eating.  “Is he American?” and so on.  Fortunately we were finishing our meal and so could exit quite quickly.  Reiko (who loves being the centre of attention) is getting irritated by this as well as I am (unwillingly) often the centre of attention.  I hate being stared and talking to people I don`t know. 

I am getting used to being a panda now though.  When children see me they will often stand rooted there in surprised schock with open mouth gawping at me with their parents ushering them away before I inflict any pyschological damage on them by just being there.  This often happens with older people as well.

However, I am becoming a master of knowing what someone is talking about (or more importantly if somebody is talking about me) by only understanding a few words.  If I here the words Aygo (English), Igirisujin (English person) gaigokujin (foreigner) etc. I know I`m being discussed and can sit there pretending not to understand.  This can make me quite paranoid as well. If I here a Japanese speaker say Simon, babble on for a bit in Japanese and then everybody starts laughing it can be very unnerving.  A lot of their words are English words adapted or the same in English and so I can often understand what is going on by only understanding that word (Karaoke, Frisbee, Game Centre, )

Yesterday in Tokyo the temperature got to a record 39.5 degrees and it was 30 degrees in the night time.  Fortunately in Osaka it`s (only) around 35 degrees in the daytime.  But we are still in sweat whilst standing, lying down and walking territory. I go through two T-shirts and have two cold showers every day.  It`s still not enough. 

I did karaoke yesterday.  I really love it in Japan.  Instead of singing in front of 50 people you don`t know, you go into a small soundproof room in your group (two to twenty) and sing your heart out for a bit and it`s a lot more fun.  You also get a selection of free drinks included.  We went in one for an hour and I had three whisky`s and Reiko had her oolong hai drink and it came to three quid each.  Unfortunately after that, I was in the mood for drinking and went off and had a tequila in a bar and was pretty rat arsed and brought shame upon the Shiraishi family….