#shokken

Shokken

Today was a pretty lazy day. Jamira told me about a curry shop in Chiyoda called Ethiopia, a place that sells Japan-ified Indian style curry (not to be confused with Japanese curry) under the name 'Ethiopia'. When we got there, was surprised to find that you didn't place your order with a shop attendant or a waiter/waitress; rather, you insert money into an automated machine and select what you want from the light-up menu. This is the second means by which I've seen Japanese aversion to making direct transactions with currency, the first being that in many stores and shops, you bring your purchases to the cashier and then put your money on a tray, slide the tray to the shop owner, and then they put your change on the same tray and slide it back to you. It's an interesting system but not all places operate this way--it depends on the store. 

Anyway, once you place your order with the machine you're given a shokken （食券）lit. 'food ticket' which you then, once seated by your server, you give to communicate your order. Then they ask you what spiciness level you'd like your food to be. The options are from 0 to 70. Jamira ordered a 0 and I got a 5. It was pretty spicy by anyone's standards so I can only imagine what hellish magma they serve when you order a 70. The portions were pretty large. A lot of rice, and a decent amount of curried chicken, potatoes and vegetables, but definitely the best curry I've had in Japan.

After eating, we shopped around for probably around 30 minutes, and then headed back to Jamira's apartment because we were both feeling tired. When we got back, Jamira was getting ready to get in bed and to my surprise and delight connected his computer to his tv put on Beyonce's 4 performance at Roseland. I studied a little bit and before I knew it the concert was over and Jamira was waking up. We talked about the music we listened to, and exchanged music videos. He introduced me to Electric Guest and we had an impromptu contest to see who could find the oddest music video. 

That afternoon, another CouchSurfer, a German guy named Damian, would be arriving and staying with us for the night. We left to pick him up from Sugamo station and then came back to Jamira's apartment where we talked and smoked shisha for a couple of hours. Damian is a really interesting guy; he's 25, just finished studying mechanical engineering, and has been traveling the world for about a year now. He's from Hamburg and before starting his trip didn't speak any English but from working in Australia with a working visa on pineapple farms, at cafes, and as a dishwasher, he's really picked up the language quite well. Right now he's doing a tour of Eastern Asia, having just arrived from Hong Kong. Soon he'll be returning to Hamburg, so Japan is one of his last stops.