Hiroshima’s commitment to Peace, Love and Baseball.

Love and Peace sign in Guesthouse Lappy. One of many Love and Peace signs throughout the city.

6th August 1945 at 8:15 in the morning. That’s when it happened. About 600 meters above the Hiroshima Cultural and Arts centre, American bomber plane Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb, the first ever nuclear atomic bomb to be used against human beings in the history of warfare.

We all know this date, we know the atomic bomb happened because we learn about it at school from our history books. We learn dates, and place names, the names of the people in power, the politics. But coming here to Hiroshima, to the very site where the bomb was dropped, seeing for myself the place where all those innocent people were blown apart, sorry to use such a graphic expression, is something I couldn’t have learned from any history book.

On a sunny Friday afternoon, I exited the south side of Hiroshima station and looked for the sign for what is now called The Atomic Bomb Dome. I could have taken the public streetcar for 10 stations, but I wanted to walk. I could have used a map, but I didn’t want the distraction. Instead I just followed the street signs. Without the distraction of a map, my phone or the hustle and bustle of getting public transport, I just walked silently, clearing my thoughts. At certain stages there were signs indicating the distance from the A-Bomb Dome: 1.5km, 1km, 500m. As I was getting closer, I could sense a resistance in my body and I walked even slower. The heat was sweltering.

The preserved ruins of the Hiroshima Culture and Arts Centre, now known as the Atomic Bomb Dome.

Eventually, after about a 40 minute walk under the strong summer sun, I came to it. The Atomic Bomb Dome, as it’s now called, previously the Hiroshima Culture and Arts Centre, the building 600 metres above which the atomic bomb was dropped, instantly killing everyone inside and thousands nearby. Over 140,000 people were killed by the atomic bomb, about 70,000 directly from the blast and another 70,000 from injuries and radiation illnesses. The original target of the bomb is said to have been the nearby Aioi bridge, easily recognizable from the sky because of its T-shape. The original Culture and Arts Centre building was known for its dome at the top, which was green, the shape of which you can still see. The remains of the building are now preserved and protected by a security fence preventing entry. There was an argument to demolish the building because of the painful memories, but it was decided to preserve it, as a memory of the atrocity that happened, as a memorial to the people who were killed and as a symbol of Hiroshima’s everlasting commitment to peace, and an end to nuclear warfare now and forever.

When I got to the A-Bomb Dome, I stopped outside, went to my knees and said a prayer for the repose of the souls of those people that were killed, many of whom were mobilized children, who had been recruited to work in factories due to labour shortages during the war. It was a busy Friday afternoon so there were lots of people around. When I got up, a smiling couple asked me to take their picture in front of the Dome. `Sorry` I said. I wasn’t exactly in a smiley ‘picture-taking’ mood. Lots of school kids were also milling around, taking notes and chatting with each other.

Mourning the lives lost in the atomic bombing, we pledge to convey the truth of this tragedy throughout Japan and the world, pass it on to the future, learn the lessons of history and build a peaceful world free of nuclear weapons.

After spending a while here, I went on to the Peace Memorial Park, a large and beautiful park containing the Peace Memorial Hall. As I entered the hall, I followed a path surrounded by high grey walls going in a circular direction. It felt quite claustrophobic in here. It led to a room where the walls are tiled, one small tile for each person who was killed. In this room there are also individual photos of each person who was killed and a searchable database to look for people. I stayed a while and looked at many of the faces. Then I went to the Peace Memorial Museum and watched videos of survivors telling their stories, many of them parents telling about their children who were killed.  They described vivid and frightening scenes of bodies floating in the river, eyes bulging out, people screaming and calling for each other, the smell of hair and skin burning. I won’t forget them. I cried and prayed for the people who were killed. And for the people who experienced it but survived, left behind with horrific memories.

Panoramic view of the Hiroshima, burnt to the ground by the A-bomb.

When I got back to the guesthouse, I was still in a very quiet mood, having not really talked to anyone. My host Yasuko san, a kind woman of about 50 or so was there and asked me how my day was. I told her about going to the A-bomb dome and my sadness must have been very obvious. Yasuko-san however took a different perspective. She told me she is thankful that so many people from other countries come to pay their respects, but she doesn’t want people to dwell on being sad. She wants us to celebrate the survivors who rebuilt the city into what it is today, a city that is fiercely dedicated to peace and love. Everywhere you go in Hiroshima there are signs of peace and love. It’s written on buses and buildings. Streets, parks and shops are named after peace. There’s a Peace Bell, a Peace Boulevard, a Flame of Peace. There’s a Peace Clock Tower that chimes at 8:15am every morning, the time that bomb hit. She said she is proud to be from Hiroshima, born and bred here. She said we should never forget what happened, but rather than feel sad, we should feel grateful to the survivors, her parents’ and grandparents’ generation, who with a fighting spirit did not wallow in their pain. They took courage in each other, in peace and in love and rebuilt the city. It’s an amazing spirit. The spirit with which they also fiercely support The Carp baseball team! Go on the Carp!

 

Carp Fan.

Delicious okonomiyaki made by said Carp fan

Of course she had family who died as a result of the A-bomb. And while talking about this she burst into heavy tears. She said it’s hard to talk about it, that many people couldn’t really talk about it, can’t really talk about it. Instead they just move on relentlessly. But we should talk about it, by talking we face our emotions and free them. By talking we pass on history, her-story, who’s story? The real stories of the people who died and survived the atomic bomb.

Claire, a girl who has lived in Hiroshima for 13 years, whom I met and chatted a while with, told me that there are times when elderly men and women sit around the a-bomb dome area in the evening and talk to anyone who will listen. Maybe they are trapped in their memories and cannot move on. It was only 74 years ago that this happened. There are still people alive who directly experienced the a-bomb. But as time goes on, there are less and less people still alive who were directly affected by the bomb. As new generations come up, we can only understand what happened by stories. And we should listen to these stories.

We should listen to these stories and remember the horror of the a-bomb, so that it never happens again. We should use the memory of the a-bomb to remind us to live peacefully, to remind us to love each other, to fight against war, but to fight with with love and peace. The only thing that can beat hate and war is love and peace. Along with the people of Hiroshima, I commit to this.

The lovely Claire and beautiful daughter Sumi-chan and dog Beemo.

 

My lovely host at Guesthouse Lappy, Yasuko-san.

Stupidly sunburned.

Peace on the train

Deer in Miyajima island.

Deer in love! ❤

Peace in Miyajima island.

 

 

Beer time @ Molly Malone’s

Chilling by the river at dusk.

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Bali Nights

‘Alexa you need to turn your lights on’ Ania is shouting back.

 

I look through my mirror to see what she’s on about it. Alexa’s coming behind me and she has no lights on.

 

‘Oh fuck’ I call back ‘Alexa turn your lights on’.

 

‘What?’ she’s saying ‘Oh shit’ and I can see her fiddling with the buttons on her handlebars.

 

Ania pulls in and I pull in and Alexa pulls in. Ania and I are both looking back at Alexa but her lights still aren’t coming on. I get off my bike and go back to her.

 

‘Where are the fucking lights?’ she’s going.

 

I switch them on for her, they are in the same place as they are on mine, and we get going again. We’re on the way to a bar on Batu Bolong beach called Old Man’s. I met Ania on Saturday, my second day in Bali, and Alexa arrived today, Tuesday. We’re all staying at the same hostel, Riviera House, and after getting chatting earlier, we decided to head for a drink together tonight. It’s Ania’s last night, she’s been here for four weeks already and she leaves tomorrow.

 

That’s the funny thing with travelling; you can make friends really quickly. Or the opposite, you know straight away when you’re not going to become friends with someone. You usually know fairly soon if you click with someone or not. When you’re not feeling it with someone, just don’t bother, it can be painful if someone is persisting on trying to be friends for the sake of it, and it’s just not working. There was this one guy I met in the last hostel I was in in Malaysia and God did he talk some shite. Occasionally we’d have a great chat, I mean when you talk as much as he does, some of it has to be at least decent patter, but mostly I couldn’t listen to him. I’d come down for breakfast in the morning and he’d be there.

 

‘What you gona do today?’ he’d ask me.

 

Oh God I’d be thinking, let me have my coffee first man before you start. We’d chat away in the hostel but I would never have left to go anywhere or do anything with him. There’d be no escape then if say we were sitting together in a café, or on a bus somewhere, I’d go out of my mind if I got stuck with him. Lovely fella, just doesn’t know when to give it a rest.

 

But it was clear from the start that Ania, Alexa and I we were going to get on. I first met Ania outside the hostel. I was trying pathetically to get the hang of how to ride my scooter, just practicing in and around the hostel grounds, and I kept falling off. Ania came walking down the side street towards the hostel, she was asking me if I was ok in her Polish accent, big smile across her face, trying not to laugh. I must have looked a sight. She assured me then that she was the same when she first arrived and now she’s scooting around like a good thing. This was encouraging and I was grateful, though I was thinking she’s just being nice, no one could be as useless as me at this, especially at that point. I couldn’t turn a corner without falling off.  She gave me a few tips like lean into the corner when you’re turning, which helped, and told me to keep trying, that I would get it. She was right of course and now I am also scooting around like a good thing.

 

Which is just as well, because if I wasn’t then I wouldn’t be able to go on this night out to Old Man’s pub as an independent woman of the world, mistress of my own scooter, like we three are right now, tearing up the road like bosses.

 

It was me who met Alexa first too, and I liked her straight away when she wasn’t saying very much, just taking things easy and not in a race to find out everything about me in one go, like so many people you meet in hostels. What’s your name, where are you from, how long are you staying, what have you seen so far, it’s so exhausting having this same conversation over and over again. Alexa didn’t do that to me and I didn’t do it to her. We just chatted about yoga and I don’t know, I think I was telling her about my scooter mission and I asked her if she wanted a cup of tea, which she did. It was cool seeing her and Ania meet as well, I knew they were clicking by their facial expressions and body language towards each other. Ania’s face was lit up like Christmas. She is quite a smiley person, but it’s a genuine smile, she just has a lust for life and sees the good in things. And Alexa was sitting comfortably just chatting and shooting out a few jokes. She has a sort of dry, subtle sense of humour that only comes out when she is comfortable with someone.

 

So we arrive to Old Man’s, which is pretty much right on the beach and Ania gets us sorted with a bottle opener to get our beers opened. We’ve brought a beer each with us to get us going, and save a bit of dough on the first drink. This was Ania’s idea; she’s the old pro, having been here a few weeks already. They’re a bit cheaper from the shops, not much, but every little helps and it just saves you having to queue at the bar first thing. It fast tracks you into the vibe.

 

We decide to do a lap of the place first to get our bearings, see what we’re up against. All you can see are long, tanned, toned limbs, gyrating in the music. The mean age is about 25 we reckon, all gorgeous young things out to score. Everybody’s sweating and dancing, there’s a game of beer pong going on in one part of the bar, which looks like a bit of craic. We stop and watch for a bit; all three of us agree that the guy in the white teeshirt straight across from us is hot, a unanimous verdict. He’s also watching the beer pong. He’s about 5.11’’ I’d say, tanned and toned (obviously) has brown hair and a beard. He’s drinking a beer and what I most like about him is he’s not looking around trying to eye talent, he’s just casually watching the beer pong, unselfconsciously.

 

We find a spot under a fan and get into the dancing, A couple of guys and a girl have gotten up onto a table in the middle of the bar and are strutting their stuff, having a bit of a dance off. This is getting us going. It’s like everyone’s energy is just vibrating through the bar as one single pulse, we’re all just here to have a good time. We’re in the moment. The girl, who I think is European, is beautiful I say and she is giving the local Balinese guys as much as she is getting, she is holding her own no problem. She does the slut drop and slides back up provocatively.

 

‘She is a great dancer’ Ania says ‘but I wish I didn’t have to see her thong, and she is full of herself’.

 

She’s wearing a long, loose, sheer dress and you can see her underwear.

 

‘True’ I say ‘but still, fair fucks’.

 

When she gets down I wink at her and touch my index finger to my thumb to say ‘perfect’, she does it back to me. Justin Bieber’s Sorry is on. And this is one of the good songs; the music is mostly shit.

 

‘I’m going to head to the ladies’ I say. Alexa says she has to go too so we go together. The queue is about ten people deep and pouring out into the bar. A middle-aged Ozzie women rocks up behind us.

 

‘Aw wow, look at this queue’ she drawls, she’s beaming from ear to ear and still dancing, Billie Jean is on now, she’s having a good time.

 

‘I know, when are we going to evolve to have penises?’ Alexa says.

 

‘You want a penis love?’ the Ozzie goes.

 

‘I’d take one for like a day’ Alexa says ‘and piss on everything’ she says still straight-faced. Me and the Ozzie woman break out laughing.

 

There’s no toilet roll in the toilets so we just have to use the spray hose thingy to wash, I’m actually getting kind of used to it. When I first encountered this system in India, my main concern was how do you dry off. But you just do and it’s fine.

 

Alexa heads back to Ania and I say I’m going to scope things out a bit more on my own. I shimmy through the dancefloor and I’m just shaking it by myself on the edge, where people are smoking and chatting when I hear a voice go,

 

‘Hey Evelyn, is that you?’

 

I pretend I don’t know who it is, but I do. It’s the guy who stuck his boner into the back of me a couple of days ago, while giving me a ‘scooting lesson’. I put the quote marks because it was really just an excuse to perv. He stayed on the scooter and stretched around me so he also had his hands on the handlebars. I had no room to move and when I felt his hard-on I said thanks but I have to go now. He gave me his number but I was never going to call him after that stunt. Eventually I admit I recognise him, his name is Arno. But I don’t give him much and after a bit he gives up and goes away.

 

I head back to the girls and find them engrossed watching a couple sitting a few feet away having what looks like a lover’s tiff. We’re all sucking on I think beer number three by now. They fill me in on the story they have imagined about this couple. She has cheated on him and is trying desperately to apologise and get him back, but he’s having none of it. He’s sitting on top of a bench with his arms folded and his feet on the seat part. She is standing in front of him trying to break him down, trying to get in there, she’s hammered.

 

‘There is obviously something between them’ Ania goes ‘otherwise he would just walk away’.

 

‘Yea’ Alexa agrees ‘where are her friends man, someone needs to tell her to get it together’.

 

The guy is holding an unlit cigarette.

 

‘Will I go over and light his cigarette?’ Ania asks us.

 

‘Do it girl, that dude needs to be saved’ Alexa goes, she’s from NYC.  

 

Ania struts over with her lighter in hand. We’re watching her, laughing. She offers the guy her lighter. He laughs, surprised, and takes it. The girl ignores her. He lights his cigarette and just gives it back. He doesn’t take the bait and Ania comes back, grinning.

 

‘What more can I do?’ she’s shrugging, ‘he must be a glutton for punishment’.

 

We get another beer and dance some more. We’re giving it but the music is not getting any better so about midnight we decide to hit the road. Ania wants to get up about 7 in the morning for an early surf.

 

There’s a moment of panic when we get to our scooters when Ania says she can’t find her key. She’s rooting in her bag cursing in Polish. But then she finds it in her pocket and we get going. Ania’s out in front eating up the road, then me, then Alexa; the same positions as before. My view is of the back of Ania, her shoulders back and straight, sitting like a queen on a throne, leaning into the corners, her short blond curls peeking out under her helmet, blowing in the breeze.

 

We stop for food at a roadside stall and end up gate-crashing a group of locals having a little party. They’re passing around a bottle of the local brew Arak and ask us to join them. The owner of the stall serves us up a plate of Nasi Goreng each, we get a snifter of the Arak, and sing a couple of songs with them, the usual numbers; Knocking on Heaven’s Door, Imagine, Hotel California.  

 

The following afternoon Ania leaves for Thailand. It’s not an emotional goodbye, she’s just moving on, it’s the nature of the beast. We hug, exchange Whatsapp and Facebook details and wave her goodbye. When she’s out of sight I turn to Alexa and ask her does she fancy going a yoga class. She does.

 

Another one bites the dust.

What can I get ya? A bartenders challenge to try everything on the menu: Daiquiri – simple, classic, sexy!

Gona take a break from beer for a while (just on the blog, not in real life, God no) and up the ante a little with a boozy cocktail. Mainly a Daiquiri, made by our resident cocktail maestro, Victor from Sweden.

とりあえずビールやめておいてカクテルを飲んでみます。スウェーデンのビクターが作ったダイキリということです。

Im actually writing this post from our Rokkaku pub. Man in the Moon has four pubs in Kyoto (and 1 in Tokyo) and I work at the Rokkaku branch as well as the Kyoto station branch here in Kyoto.

これはマンインザムーンの六角点から書いています。マンインザムーンは京都でお店を４点があります（東京でも１店があります）。私は京都で六角点と京都駅点両方で働きますけど。

So heres Victor doing his thang. Recently he’s so creative with cocktails, knocking out all sorts of original mixes, not on the menu. One to watch, this one.

これはビクターがカクテルを作る写真です。最近ビクターはカクテルを作ることがめちゃクリエイティブになって、オリジナルカクテルが多いということです。

But I decided to go for a Daiquiri, which is on the menu. As Victor says himself: Daiquiri is just rum, sugar and fresh lime, simples. In the correct quantities, shaken to perfection, served in the right glass, its the cocktail of cocktails. How does it go so wrong sometimes? Maybe because people don’t appreciate the simplicity and mess with the recipe, trying to make it something more complicated.

でも私はうちのメニューからダイキリのことにしました。ビクターて言うたことは、ダイキリのことが:RUM、ライムとシュガーだけなんです、シンプル！なんでたくさん人変わりたいかな？　このままちょうどう美味しいです！

Which is a shame, because its perfect in its simplicity. Anyway this Daiquiri was delicious; boozy and with a good kick to it, its pretty much just alcohol after all, fresh, more-ish and it went to my head, in a good way. Id had a long day and Im not used to cocktails. I admit it made me a little tipsy.

じゃこのダイキリはすごく美味しかったです。お酒いっぱい入ったのに、飲むやすかったです。でも一杯だけ飲んだのに正直はちょっと酔っていたよ。カクテルが慣れてないからよ。

I drank it with the lovely Daniela, there she is, our French belle. She’s on a Mojito.
ダニエラと飲んだ。これダニエラ、フランスの美女だ。彼女はモヒート飲んだ。

 

Summary:
Day: Who knows!
Drink: Daiquiri
Price: ¥900
Verdict: Simple, classic, sexy; the Gucci of cocktails. And boozy, so drink it slowly.
Atmosphere: Lively for a Tuesday evening. We had our regular English night event so there was lots of energy in the bar. There was a football match on the tv, a friendly between Japan and Paraguay in advance of the World Cup. I drank it with Daniela who was also having a cocktail. Inspirational-vibes.

火曜日の夜だったのに賑やかな雰囲気があった。英語でしゃべナイトのイベントをやっていまして、サッカー日本vsパラグアイの国際親善試合もありました。テンションがUPでした。いい感じだった！

Day 5: What can I get ya? A bartender’s challenge to try everything on the menu. The Premium Malts – Local Kyoto Beer

So this is a local Kyoto one! Its called The Premium Malts and its actually not on the menu, a little exclusive here. We do have have a Japanese beer called The Malts which will be coming up soon. It’ll be interesting to see if there’s much of a difference in them.

Technically Kirin Heartland should have been next on the list but I don’t like it so I might be procrastinating a little. I`ll get there. Its definitely next.

Meanwhile heres the pic of the Kyoto Premium Malts.

Hiramatsu-san in the background, Christina behind the reji. I had just finished my shift, and it was about 12 midnight. Wed had a fairly busy, steady evening so I was well ready to sit down and have a beer.

Davide finished at the same time so we drank it together.

We were in a roguish kind of a mood. There was a big group of German guys in, Paku had just arrived and he got the music going. We Will Rock You came on and lifted the roof, table thumping, foot stomping, air-punching – it was a racket.

I took a good sniff of it first actually and it smelled really fresh. I don’t know why, I just wanted to enjoy every bit of it. The moment the first drop hit my throat I realized how thirsty I was and took a big gulp. It was good, lemony actually. Christina tried it too, what did she say? Fruity I think.

I drank it fast and it quenched my thirst.

Acting the lark with Hiramatsu-san – Guinness badge buddies.

Summary:
Day: 5
Drink: The Premium Malts – brewed in Kyoto (bottle)
Price: ¥800 (little bit more than the others – craft beer dakara)
Verdict: Lemony – thirst quenching
Atmosphere: Worked the evening shift, got off at 12 midnight. Was a fairly busy evening and I was thirsty! Drank it with Davide, the rogue! Big group of German lads in having a hoolie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Days 3 and 4: What can I get ya? A bartender’s challenge to try everything on the menu! Kirin Beers

When I say Day 3/4, I should mention that this means Day 3/4 of the challenge – but the days are not necessarily consecutive. I can’t drink everyday, that’d be a whole other challenge. So I had a couple of booze free days since the last post and now I’m back and rearing to go again. So rearing that Imma tackle 2 drinks in this post.

Namely The Kirin Beers! Don don don! I don’t like Kirin beer you see.

So here goes, first up is:

Kirin Lager

Wasn’t looking forward to it. Wasn’t expecting to enjoy it. But it was actually quite good. Better than I expected. 期待しえてより美味しかったです！That’s always the way isn’t it. Expectations totally effect your experience of things.

I’d only tried Kirin on draught before and I definitely didn’t like it, regardless of the circumstances. I am learning that sometimes loads of things can effect your experience of things like who you’re with, your mood and all those sorts of things. But I’ve given Kirin draught a good couple of goes and I always don’t like it. (is that different from I never like it?).

But apparently I like it from the bottle. That`s the opposite of the norm right. Draught is usually better than bottle. Fresh is always better no?

Atmosphere-wise, had been working with Anna all day and we shared it in the last 15 minutes of our shift. There she is the trooper. She’s dosed with a sore throat and everything but she`s soldiering on.

Summary:

Day: 3
Drink: Kirin Lager (bottle)
Price: ¥700
Verdict: Better than I expected, would drink again.
Atmosphere: Been working the day shift with Anna all day and we shared it in the last 15 minutes of our shift.

 

Day 4

Next up: Kirin Ichiban Shibori (一番搾り）

The other day a customer sitting in the corner of the counter motioned me over with his hand. It was a pretty busy evening, quite noisy in the bar and he said ` something something something shibori `. Thats what I heard anyway. An oshibori is a wet tissue we give out to customers to wipe their hands before eating or drinking.

Like this:

So I go like, aw you want an oshibori? He was with 2 friends, and beside them there was another guy sitting with his wife and they all completely burst into hysterics. At which point I realized I must have made a mistake and copped on that he was asking for Ichiban Shibori. The pronunciation and meaning is exactly the same, I might add. Hardly that ridiculous a mistake to make. Well they found it hilarious anyway which left me pretty embarrassed. I guess I won’t make that mistake again. Fuckers.

So heres the meaning of Ichiban Shibori. Ichiban means One or First. Shibori means like to squeeze or press something (so like thats what you’re doing when your cleaning your hands with the tissue right?).

The reason this beer is called ichiban shibori is that it only uses the first press of the wort. Whats a wort? Good question, I had to look that up myself. Its the liquid thats extracted during the brewing of beer or whiskey. Most brewers use the first and second press or extraction of the wort, but Kirin Ichiban only uses the first and its the only major brewer that does this.

Its a 100% pure malt beer. Typically, 100% malt beers have a strong and heavy taste, but, when brewed only from the first wort the flavor is smoother, and this is the pure flavor of the malt.

Ooh I actually am starting to learn stuff now. Cool.

I realize I haven’t said much in the way of my own personal opinion on the taste but I don’t remember now! Was rushing to meet Makkyo after work so just kind of knocked it back to be honest.

Summary:
Day: 4
Drink: Kirin Ichiban Shibori (bottle)
Price: ¥700
Verdict: Smooth and easy to drink
Atmosphere: Worked the day shift and drank it towards the end of my shift. Was meeting Makkyo right after work so my mind was elsewhere 😉

 

 

 

 

Day 2: What can I get ya? – A bartender’s challenge to try everything on the menu

I actually woke up for work this morning (10-18 shift) feeling a bit groggy from yesterdays beer (full disclosure: also had a sneaky gin and tonic so that might have contributed) anyways I said to myself that I won’t drink today, Ill just go home after work and Ill continue the challenge the next day.

But that was just the morning head talking. Come 4 o clock, somebody suggested a round of baby guinness (swear it wasn’t me) and next thing I know I’m lining up the shot glasses and calling kanpai! So when it got to 6 o clock and clocked off,  I was ready for bottle beer number 2: Sapporo Black Label. Actually its number 1 on the menu, but if you read yesterdays post you’ll know that it sold out just before I finished my shift, and today, I got the last one! So that will give you an idea of its popularity.

So here it is: Sapporo Black Label (Takumi on the reji – couldn’t resist getting him in)

I was surprised by how much nicer I found it than the Sapporo red star, yesterdays beer. It was more refreshing, with no heavy aftertaste and it didn’t make me burp.

So I really enjoyed it. And Dakota joined me for her Otsukare drink (after work drink), there she is the little babe. So that made it extra fun.  And I was looking forward to Nanae coming at 7 to go for dinner together. I hadn’t seen her in ages so I was really looking forward to seeing her. Double yay. And I’m off tomorrow. Triple yay. Do these things affect your experience? I think they probably do.

Anyways its a thumbs up for the Sapporo Black Label.

Heres the summary:

Day: 2
Drink: Sapporo Black Label (bottle)
Price: ¥700 – same as Sapporo Red Star.
Verdict: Light, refreshing, no aftertaste – better than Sapporo Red Star.
Atmosphere: Otsukare drink (after work drink). Drank it with Dakota, looking forward to meeting Nanae for dinner, off tomorrow. All round happy vibes. Makyo, Davide, Takumi and Kei working. Anna-chan also here, been working together all day and had a great catch up with her.

What can I get ya? – A bartender’s challenge to try everything on the menu: Day 1!!

I’ve worked in Man in the Moon, Irish pub in Kyoto since October 2016, about a year and a half now, and its such a fun job. We have fun while we work and of course end up drinking…a lot.  So I drink a lot of beer, the occasional red wine, I’m known to be partial to the odd gin and tonic, in the wee hours one for the road often turns into a whiskey. I suppose I knock back a jaeger bomb or baby guinness now and then too when the craic is good. Okay so I’ve tried a good few things. But I feel like I always just drink beer. And when customers ask me to recommend something, Id like to be more fluent in talking about our menu. I have always been one to value personal experience so Ive set myself the challenge of personally trying everything on the menu, in order that I can give my own opinion when people ask about stuff. Orrrr its just an excuse to drink and pretend Im doing important research for my job!

Anyway….basically menu-wise we have beer; bottled and draught, cocktails; spirit based and liqeur based, whiskey, wine, and because we are in Japan we also have sake, umeshu and shochu, a few non-alchohol drinks and that about covers it.

So Im gona start at the very beginning, as Fraulein Maria says, a very good place to start.

Page 1 on our menu is beer and and it starts with Japanese bottled beers.

As it turns out, the very first thing on the bottled beer menu, Sapporo Black Label, sold out just right before I finished my shift haha! Its popular and we had a busy couple of hours. So Im actually starting with the 2nd thing on the menu, which is Sapporo Lager Red Star.

Here it is. And Im washing it down with a packet of Tayto. Or is it the other way about? We don’t actually have Tayto in the bar, mores the pity, but it just so happens that an Irish guy, Adrian, came to the bar last night (I wasn’t working) and brought me some Tayto. He comes to Japan regularly and I met him the last time he came. So thank you Adrian!

Sapporo is actually my staple but I usually drink it draught, and drinking it from the bottle is a somewhat different experience I have to say. Im not drinking it from the bottle either, Im pouring into a glass, don’t really like drinking from bottles. Its the same size glass that I drink the draught from though; 3/4 size but yea it tastes different.

How can I describe it; its stronger that the draught. Its nice like, cold and fresh enough, but its kind of heavy. Theres a long aftertaste. To be honest, its making me burp.

I think thats about as technical as Im going to get with this one.

Okay heres the summary:

Day: 1
Drink: Sapporo Red Star (bottle)
Price: ¥700 – 安い！！its cheap. especially when you compare it to the draught, which is ¥900 for about the same amount.
Verdict: Would drink it again but only if there was no draught
Atmosphere: Just finished my shift. Its about 7 o clock. Davide, Christina and Paku are working. We had a nice group of Auzzies in who were on a group trip so I did my `kanpai` (cheers) with them!

Alright then there we go. It`s started!!. 始まりました！！