Visitin'

It ain't exactly a common thing for me to visit the home of a Tokyo native, for to do so in Japan seems to require all sorts of complex formalities which tend to overwhelm the purpose of the visit. To me that purpose would be to relax and perhaps see if we can get to know one another better.

I don't have folks over so much anymore either---much less than I did in the US---because it seems everything becomes so stiff and formal. It ain't really, but folks seems on edge or something even if I have known them and worked with them for a long time. No wonder everyone goes to izakayas. It hasn't much to do with the "small, dirty" apartments that this sort of thing used to be ascribed to back in the late 80s and earlier. It's just that all the formalities and so on are such a pain in the a** that nobody wants to mess with it.

But occasionally, I get invited to someones home and equally occasionally, I accept. At the risk of being called some sort of ~~~phobe (which I am not as far as I know), I have a word of advice for my Tokyo native friends and acquaintances:

If you are a single guy, and you invite another guy to your mansion alone for a home-cooked dinner on a Saturday evening it might be best to refrain from humming and singing show tunes* while you are preparing the meal. Especially after you have offered wine, for your guest may become confused as to whether he should go ahead and guzzle the whole bottle to numb what is left of his mind or to refrain from drinking at all.

You should also refrain from asking---during a pause in your vocals---if your guest is good at singing, for he might reply "No, are you?"

I confess to having purchased an album of "show tunes" 10 years ago or so, because I liked the song "They Call the Wind Mariah" and the theme song (vocals) from M*A*S*H*. However, I have been able to resist the urge to sing either to guys whom I have over for dinner.