Finally, I'm Japanese

It's totally official, starting today. I'm honorary Japanese.

There are a number of things that lead me to this conclusion. On Friday night, for instance, I went to a Japanese izakaya (traditional Japanese pub) and ate all the traditional Japanese delicacies while trying my best to communicate all in Japanese. I received a very warm welcome from all the teachers present, and opened a lot of doors to closer friendships. It was a good night.

But that's not why I'm now Japanese. I'm Japanese because ... I just had a nightmare about Godzilla. In my dream, I was in Tokyo with my friends Josh and Shannon, and we heard a-rumbling. We ran outside to see what it was, and everything was very similar to the movie Cloverfield. Specks of humanity chasing each other around, afraid of who-knows-what. And then, I saw Godzilla. And it was like, old-Godzilla-movie Godzilla. It looked like a dude in a suit. And when he shot a fireball at us, the fireball looked like a bad movie graphic ... until I regained consciousness (in the dream), knocked 150 feet away from where I was standing. Then I began freaking out. Suuuuure, it looks hilarious, but I was in some serious corporeal danger, here!

I have never been legitimately scared of giant, fire-breathing lizard monsters before ... though in retrospect, I can't help but wonder why...


Okay, this is premature. But, I don't know how else I'll tell you about it. When I was in Tokyo last weekend, I met my friend's friend Tomoko at a club, and she asked me why I came to Japan.
Of course, without missing a beat, I replied "Ninja." And, many Japanese people laugh when I say this, because that's like saying "Why did you come to England?" "Robin Hood," or something. But, she just thought for a minute and said "Well....there's this bar. And it's a ninja bar. A ninja greets you and leads in through a secret passage into a secret room, where you can get drunk. All your food is brought secretly by ninja."

...I am SO going to ninjabar, that it's not even funny. I hope they let me take pictures. But...I don't push my luck, when it comes to ninja.