We woke up early enough as any excited children do on Christmas morning. I was tired due to the inability of getting to sleep until about 4am the night before. We got up and got ready to go to a Christmas play that one of Philip and Valerie's classes was putting on.
It was called Fart Bonzai, (Hooray for Farts), not your typical nativity play as it was about a group of children in class and one of them farts so they talk about farts and in the end they are all happy they fart because it feels so great. Philip played the teacher and Valerie had to sub in for a child who couldn't make it. There were other small plays too from other classes. Before it all, myself, Eric and Winnie (Valerie's sister) got a special greeting. Westerners Bonzai !! I scared one child sitting in front of me by doing the tap his far shoulder so he thought it was Eric, Eric signalled it was me and the poor child changed seats. We ended up leaving early because we had to go to Michiyo & Soichiro's for dinner. We all got picked up, Philip, Eric and I in Soichiro's car because we were the men while Valerie and Winnie had to wait a minute for Michiyo.
Their house was amazing. It was huge. We got the tour before dinner and then came the feast. The food was amazing, I ate so much but I just couldn't stop. There were several dishes. Michiyo's friend who helped her cook also joined us for dinner. After dinner, Valerie and her family got dropped to the train station as they were travelling to another part of Japan.
We stayed on and Soichiro showed us a Japanese flag that belonged to his Father. It had messages written all over it from all his friends and was given to him before he headed off to fight in World War 2. We then had some Christmas pudding that Marie (Philip's mother) had sent over to Michiyo. After such a feast it was tough to move. Michiyo and Soichiro drove us back to Philip's apartment and then there was work to be done.
We prepared Philip's house for our Christmas party.
We tidied away the couch and the futons, cleaned and hoovered. Another great Japanese household item was put in the middle of the room although this wouldn't work in Ireland because we don't sit on the floor. It was a table with a blanket attached and the blanket was a heated electric blanket. Philip and I went to the local Supermarket to buy beers and snacks. Unfortunately the overly polite woman with the extremely timid squeaky wasn't working Christmas day. We met the first guest on the walk back as Saki cycled up behind us. We entertained ourselves while waiting for everyone else by playing Pop-Up Pirate. Soon after Kozue and Tsune joined and finally Yuka.
We exchanged our presents. Yuka was my secret Santa and gave me a Japanese tea kit. Eric had previously given us our gifts in a sports bag which was great as it was bigger than the small back pack I brought from home and Philip gave me cans of Japanese beers and asked me my opinion on them. He also gave me a small toy which looked like an evil hen but he said it looked like me. Kozue gave me a shopping catalogue from a toilet store full of different options for the Japanese toilet I will buy when I own a house.
During the party in Philp's apartment, his family Skyped him and we all said hello and Eric in typical weird Eric humour greeted Derek (Philip's dad) by telling him he was sexy and I later found out that Derek knew Eric didn't drink but thought he was the one who sounded drunk. My family were going to Farrell's later on to Skype me too. My parents, Ruth and Dave turned up and got a big loud Japanese Merry Christmas from everyone.
We ended the night in the local Fukusaki karaoke, the same one we went to for Philip's Eikaiwa Christmas party. Highlights of the songs were Eric trying to sing Eminem - "Lose Yourself" and Kozue trying to sing Eminem - "Stan" and missing most of the words. Another group effort of "Fairytale of New York" was an obvious choice and Phil's beautiful rendition of "Be Our Guest" from Disney's Beauty & the Beast.
We then had a few more beers back in the house and when the girls decided it was time for bed, the most quick and efficient sorting out and furniture rearranging occurred. Philip, Eric and I stood idle as our help would have just slowed things down. I was snuggling up with Eric on the floor which was concerning as he is a viscous sleep talker and I thought that may extend to kicking but I was undisturbed all night.
It was a long and epic Christmas day.
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