That's One Way to Eat Sanma

This weekend we hosted a couple of American couch-surfers, John and Jim from Colorado. I took the pair to a small traditional Japanese style restaurant for dinner right by my apt. The place is one of my favorites and I always get a kick out of then scene I make when I come there, as their only foreigner regular customer. Three Americans really made people crane their necks, especially Jim who at 6'8'' blows peoples minds here.

Initially it looked like the place was at capacity and we wouldn't be able to get a seat. But one local salaryman who I had met here once recognized me and said that he and his friend were leaving and we should take their spot at the table. The three of joined a couple that stayed behind, and the five of us crowded around a table that could probably comfortably seat three. The guy didn't speak much English, the girl new a little, proudly saying that her name meant Venus.

The exact relationship between the two seemed a little ambiguous and Venus definitely seemed to take a liking to Jim. His unique -though not totally ineffective- chopstick method was a particular source of amusement.

"You're a southpaw!"

It took the three of us a minute to process that. Japanese English -more then any other ESL group - seems to be littered with these slightly old fashioned Americanisms. It's as if someone went to America to learn English in the 60 & 70s wrote down all these colloquialisms and they made it into the standard textbook that's been in use for decades. Japanese English speakers tend to be very surprised that we're surprised that they know the particular turn of phrase. For non-American English these sayings can sometimes lead to great confusion. An Australian friend of mind was extremely confused when at dinner a Japanese guy asked him if he wanted to "go dutch" by which he meant split the bill.

Venus was putting back sake like it was her job.

Unfamiliar with the term "booze" she misheard it as "boobs"

Venus tells Jim she loves him

Venus asks Jim to marry her

We ordered Sanma, a small grilled fish. I hadn't really thought a fish could be considered "seasonal" but it's a traditional Japanese fall dish. The cold weather supposedly leads the fish to put on more delicious fat. It's quite good and usually the fish is served whole, here's a sample picture below.

You generally pick out the meat around the torso.

Jim in an inspired move harnesses all his chopstick ability to pick out the eyeball and eats it.

Venus, get's all serious.

Picks up the sanma, now a skeleton except for the head and fin.Carefully coils the tail in a small bowl in front of her.

We are all wondering where she's going with this.

Venus looks Jim in the eye all sensual like.

Puts the head of the phallic sized fish into her mouth and bits the whole thing of, the skull and everything, and swallows it down.

The three of us are stunned, Jim especially, who doesn't strike me as a personal familiar with being totally sonned, is really amazed.

Venus carefully coils the now decapitated fish remains in a bowl, considerately covers it and removes it from the table.

Not too long after that our new friends decide to leave. Venus takes a total dive leaving the restaurant, falling into a parked scooter. She's alright though and once helped to her feet by her friend proceeds to waive vigorously.