The Standing Bar

[samu]

This was another Wednesday and as usual I was heading home with my friend after office .At the Yokohama station I was walking ahead, pulling through the crowd to catch the next train .It was usual for me to walk ahead of Kevin .On the way I got a phone call from Kevin . I turned back to see him waving his hands to me at a distance .He called me up to join him for a drink in a standing bar. It’s a popular place to gather for a drink in the evening .Mainly crowded with office workers heading back home.
I just didn’t think much and joined him at the station exit .We headed for the bar which was close by.
The surprise was waiting for me at the door. This was the beautiful Chinese girl that Kevin used to talk about since he began frequenting the standing bar. Kevin was totally surprised when I began talking with her very easily like we knew each other for a long time .Yes, I knew this girl for the last one and a half year and I was happy and really surprised to see her there .We study together at the Japanese language class a few stations away. She was a pretty cute girl and my first crush in Japan. Her name is Toenshu.

And my heart broke when I came to know that she was married to a Japanese .But her body language was very clear ,that she too had an attraction for me .I could see that in her eyes .

Well after settling in a table near the entrance of the bar, we ordered for two pegs of shochu (a beverage native to Japan with 25 % alcohol normally) on the rocks. There were two more girls serving, one Chinese named Ri and a Japanese called Yuki. We had a two hour time limit for occupying the table. Ri was doing her studies in Japan and spoke good English.
Yuki was giving more attention to Kevin .This was quite obvious with his frequent visit to the bar .I could conclude that a sort of bond has developed.

The side dish was potato fry, chicken momo (legs) and pork .The potato fry was delicious, and it comes with mayonnaise and tomato sauce .The place is really small, with hardly any space to move around.

I called Toenshu for all my further orders .Just wanted to talk with her .Well I was getting pretty high and a bit romantic, not letting go of any opportunity I had to spend those precious moments with Toenshu I might never have again. We just kept talking, and watching all the people just passing by the road. There were three small tables outside the bar occupied by couple of young guys and girls .The tables outside the bar ,just near to the public walking pavement was the best place to see and may be meet some new people. The guys at the adjacent table were cheering our efforts we made at talking with girls in the bar.

Kevin soon struck a talk with these guys; it was all about the world cup 2010.
It is summer time and the teams in the world cup 2010 were into their semi-finals .Last week Japan was defeated in a shoot out in the world cup.

Later I had to entertain this old man who joined our table .Soon the talks were all about football, speaking English and Japanese .He was quite fluent in English as he had worked with the parish at Yamata for a long time .It was fun talking with him. I managed speaking few Japanese with him too. He left after a while promising to meet us sometime soon.


Kevin went out to buy a pack of cigarettes in the mean time .I was leaning to the wall and began to get some fresh air with my Japanese fan (this was a small hand held fan with stickers attached to a plastic rib which you get for free in certain busy areas, quite different from a Sensu which is the traditional Japanese fan).

Then there came a lady at the entrance of the bar, she was a middle aged Philipino. She was stuck at the entrance looking for something. I grabbed the moment and asked her if she needed any help. She told me that she was looking, if they served Oysters or Sushi at the restaurant. Well sad to say she was in a wrong place for that. The Oyster lady left the place soon and we ordered for another repeat. Wanted to get a bit more high before winding up. It was about time we left the bar. The bar was never out of people .It was always live.

I could see Toenshu talking with other frequent customers, making them all happy as she moved around with her cute little smile .Everybody was here for some kind of relief; to talk with some one and enjoy some time .Kevin helped me finish my last drink .I called Toenshu to settle the bill and also have that last minute chat with her. I just couldn’t help smiling at her one last time before leaving the bar.