It was Mike and Jen's (and Paul's, though he didn't come for obvious reasons) leaving do on the weekend, and they did a pretty fun and Japanese-y thing for it--a BBQ/beer garden on the top of a department store (because where better to put the hundreds of drunken Tokoites?).

It's the sort of thing that would never be allowed at home--two elevators, hundreds of people , a big roof, and open flame on every table... umm fire hazard? Not to mention the open-air alcohol (serve yourself), kids running around, and the pet store you had to walk through to get on to said roof. However, that said, it was lots of fun and a great evening. We did a 2-hour nomihodai/tabehodai, which basically means "eat as much lamb and veggies (and random, un-ordered sausages) and drink as much beer/juice in two hours as humanly possible" (another reason this might not get carried out at home...gaijin can eat a fair whack of food and dispense with a number of pitchers of Sapporo in two dedicated hours.) It was quite funny when they tried to get us out. (of course, closing at 10, means closing at 10). They played Auld Lang Syne (as you do) and then when that didn't work, came over and very politely told us we'd have to leave soon. The word soon was their mistake there! Finally (though probably only at about 10:04, and in our defence, we weren't the last table), the one guy (poor guy) who spoke English came over and told us that the elevators would stop running and we'd be stuck. So we left and headed to a random 5th floor darts bar with astroturf on the ground (again, as you do), for a quick one before last trains started to be an issue and we split up.


Sad to say good bye to Jen and Mike, but we've promised cross-continental trips, and I'm going to follow through on my threat to visit them in NYC at some point :)
xo
DThe little yakiniku ( I *heart* yakiniku) grills...our gas canisters kept running out and having to be replaced and shaken and things...i'm sure not up to US code!, Also: a huge platter of lamb, and an even huge-r platter of veggies...
Quite the popular event, this Ginza roof BBQ thing!
Wahay, it's Dani with alcohol! No, I didn't drink it, and yes, Jen was laughing at me, and yes, this was photo-worthy, and yes, I'm crap at pulling beer. Let's see, 7 parts foam, to one part beer. oops!