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After the play finished and we cleaned up the stage and backstage area, it was time for...

THE AFTERPARTY!!!!

The whole staff cruised on over to a sushi restaurant and had sushi and booze. They say that sake (rice wine) goes well with sushi, but I wouldn't know. I can't drink that stuff anymore.

So I had beer and sushi...until I wimped out and went with the water instead.

Hey, I was tired.

After the first party finished up, we headed over to a bar for the ever-popular SECOND PARTY (see also: nijikai). The idea was that we would go to karaoke, but when we got inside the bar, it was smoky and small and looked nothing like a karaoke bar.

It looked like we were in for two hours of smoky misery.

How wrong I was.

The bar was a live karaoke bar. The bartender not only mixed some mean cocktails, he could rock out on the guitar. I sang a couple Japanese songs and a couple English songs. Much fun was had, at least by me. I want to go drinking there again, especially since the bartender and I talked a little bit about maybe getting together and doing some band stuff.

Sweetness.

Then, after we cleared out of that bar, Seamus, his girlfriend Risa (who was the other group leader for the Beauty Lous) and I headed back to his apartment and crashed there.

The next morning, after a shower for me (which led to Seamus joking with Risa that there was a naked man loose in his apartment...not that they could see me...I was in a different room...sheesh) and some coffee for us all, we headed back to the Date Cultural Center to see off the two MCT staff members, who were heading off to Sapporo to work with some children there on a performance of the play.

Yours truly with the two members of the Missoula Children's Theatre, K-chan (Katie Becker) and D-chan (R. DeAndre Smith).

I then drove Risa over to her house. She offered Seamus and I some spinach. This isn't some random Japanese custom. Her family just grows spinach. We accepted, and somehow this led to Risa's father showing us his katana collection. I'm not quite sure how that happened, but it was very cool. Then, after a cup of coffee, Seamus and I headed back to the Cultural Center so he could get on his bike and ride back home.

But first, we made a ramen stop at Tsuru-Tsuru-Tei.

Very. Good. Ramen.

Then it was back home for me. I still have to pack for next week's trip! AND I promised some students (actually recent Starfish High grads) that I would take them out for dinner tonight. So there is still much to do!