Keio University dinner

I love my med student group at Keio University!  They are all so fun, and they helped me out so much during the first week.  They all speak English remarkably well, so that helped a great deal when I would otherwise be dozing through rounds.  Our attending took us all out to an izakaya one night for dinner and drinks.  I was impressed with how 'casual' the dinner was, even though our attending and the chair of GI were both there.  I guess it's very normal to go out to these dinners hosted by your superiors, and it's also very normal to get drunk in front of them!

Here they are!

They ordered me and Dan a huge thing of bamboo sake!

Blowtorch mackerel: yum!  You eat this with a dab of spicy mustard.

Buta-no-kakuni: succulent pork belly with pancakes to wrap it up (like the Peking duck pancakes, you know?)

Some sort of fried chicken

A fancy version of chicken meatballs or tsukune, with avocado and tomato

Sea bream and smoked salmon sashimi: I really liked the sea bream!

Dragonball sushi roll: the ikura (fish eggs) are supposed to be 'dragonballs.'   Here, all the boys broke into the Dragonball theme song.  It was quite funny, I didn't realize how popular Dragonball is here in Japan.

Mentaiko fries: so delicious!  What a unique flavoring to French fries!

Korean pancake: crispier than the ones in the States

Japanese pasta

Natto ice cream: one of many desserts!  You can see him mixing it.  The natto is all sticky and goes well with the ice cream.

And that concludes our dinner!  There were actually many more dishes, but I chose the more photogenic ones.  :)  It was full of beer, sake, good food, and friends.  We had our own little tatami room, and there I learned all sorts of Japanese drinking games.  Everyone was incredibly hospitable, and I thank them all profusely!  Especially Manabu, who found the restaurant for us.  :)