*Chuhai: an alcoholic drink originating in Japan made from shochu (Japanese alcohol), carbonated water, and a flavoring. Chuhai is typically around 9% alcohol and has an extremely high sugar content. You can also buy Chuhai in a can...
So, Damian and I headed out with one of his friends from work on Friday night. We went to his buddies place for dinner and some drinks, then out to an area of bars called "The Honch" near the gate of the base. For my Boston friends it reminded me of Faneuil Hall with all the bars on top of each other and for my San Diego people it is like PB on steroids... especially with a high ratio of younger guys lurking around every corner! It was definitely an experience! Throughout the entire night I never once felt like I was in Japan, which I was somewhat disappointed in because I really wanted to see how the Japanese play and go to a real authentic bar. I quickly learned that this will not happen while I am anywhere near this base. I can't remember if I mentioned this before or not, but there are close to 26,000 people stationed here on this base which means they all need a place to go out... it makes sense to have all those American-ish bars right across the street from the base... just not my thing!
One thing that really surprised me was the amount of "Shore Patrol" or military police out and about on the streets surrounding these bars and also in the bars themselves. There have a been some very unfortunate incidents involving US sailors and Japanese nationals in the past few years including a murder and some assaults so the presence of the shore patrol help to keep the sailors (especially the really young ones) in check!
In the course of the night Damian's friend suggested I try one of these Chuhai's as it is one of those things you have to do at least once... I felt pretty good, a little tipsy but in a good place to make a decision to try one of these drinks. The one I got was a grape flavor... tasted just like Kool-Aid... wicked sweet and went down like water! I felt fine, we went to a few more bars and saw the sights (and by sights I mean drunks) and then walked back to the base to get a taxi home.
When I woke up on Saturday AM I felt pretty good, I made us breakfast and coffee and was thinking, “Wow, I feel pretty good for a late night out drinking…” Well, it was too good to be true, about 3 hours after I woke up the hangover hit me and it hit hard! I spent the rest of our Saturday on the couch watching Law & Order SVU on Hulu and drinking water in between my naps. Lesson learned!
I finally felt better this morning!!! Today has been pretty productive; we ran a million errands, which is much easier now that we have a car to get around on base! We got some groceries and a bunch of stuff for Damian’s upcoming deployment so now that’s done! Tonight we are having date night and going out for sushi…. Going to a sushi-go-round place everyone tells us is really “oishii.”
Japanese word of the day:
Oishii: delicious
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