How to host a Japanese BBQ
Once again after a late night, we had a very early start this morning. Keiko had arranged a Seikei Cowra BBQ to be held at our house today. It was going to be on an epic scale for a Japanese BBQ. With most people living in apartments/condos and houses here in Tokyo being relatively small with little room for entertaining, most Japanese functions tend to be either held in function rooms if on a large scale and local restaurants if smaller.
So having over 40 guests to cater for and seat, we had a lot of re-arranging inside the house and the attached school room to do, and lots to do to set up around the yard. Catering is also a problem here, as most families shop for food every couple of days because space in pantrys and fridges is limited, so shops and stores here don’t cater for bulk buying. So Keiko and her friend who is also an ex-Cowra exchange student, drove over an hour away into Saitama prefecture to shop for the BBQ at a huge outlet centre which sells food and household goods in bulk. Needless to say they were exhausted after the trip, getting back at around 9pm on Friday night, with the car chocker block full! Don’t think they were able to see out the back!
Anyway, the day went very well, with their being more than enough food for all the guests and everyone enjoyed themselves immensely. Especially Zoe, Keiji and the school principal, who spent almost the whole day bar-b-equing. By the time coffee, tea and desserts were served, Zoe and Grant had managed to corrupt the other Japanese kids at the BBQ by teaching them how to play ‘blackjack’ using Japanese 1 and 5 yen coins to bet with. The Aussie vip’s feigned horror, but it was amazing how much fun they were all having without being able to communicate!
It was also around about that time that Jun opened the piano and the ‘singalong’ began. Quite a few people started belting out ‘high on a hill was a lonely goat heard’ and more songs from the Sound of Music, with a couple of the members actually having great voices. The rest of us sang a little softer, but joined in as well.
By the time the day was over, packing up and getting the place back in order, it was late in the evening. Those of us who stayed till the end, were totally exhausted as most of us had been working for about 12 hours!
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