I met Victoria's parents this weekend. They seemed nice enough. Her dad has a toothache, which isn't so great, since he probably won't get it taken care of here in Japan, and they'll be here for three weeks or so. We went out to eat last Friday, but we had some trouble finding a place to eat. We tried to go out at 8, and that's when most of the restaurants are full in Japan. So we went to a couple of restaurants that were full until we finally found an Italian restaurant near the station. The food wasn't too bad, and I could read a lot of the katakana menu, which is always a nice achievement. I think everyone was glad to get some food, since it was so late and everyone was hungry. Victoria's dad seemed to be fascinated by language. He kept on repeating various Japanese words in funny voices. His fascination didn't stop with Japanese though. I think he found Sarah's and my accents quite amusing. He kept talking in a strange American-esque accent.

On Sunday, Victoria, her parents, and I went to a Christmas party at the Toyama Cosmopolitan Association. Their director, Takemaru-san is a great guy, and he organizes the really expensive dinners that we get taken out to. Speaking of which, I don't think I told you about the last one. Anyway, I also take my Japanese lessons at the TCA, so I am practically family there. Anyway, this Christmas party had a diverse crowd, with lots of Chinese and Koreans there. We sang some song in Japanese, played a game where we got gifts (I got a hand towel), and made traditional Japanese New Year's decorations (lavendar and little trinkets). They served a big lunch as well. After the first party, there was a karaoke party at another place (also with the TCA). However, it didn't start for an hour, so I suggested we go visit Toyama castle. The castle park is right next to the TCA, so it is very convenient. Takemaru-san called up the director of the castle museum and got us free admission. He took us through the castle and showed us everything. The castle is not really interesting. The museum has lots of old maps of Toyama and Japan, which were interesting. The rivers in the city used to flow in different areas than they do now.

The castle was built in 1954, and is made of concrete and steel. It doesn't even look like the old castle. I thought the castle was bombed during the war, since this is what happened to many castles in other cities. However, the castle actually burned down about a hundred years ago. I think the park was vacant during the war. The castle has a decent view though. Anyway, Takemaru-san was a good guide and we got in free, so that was nice.

Someone just handed me a traditional Japanese desert, which they described as grass surrounded by red bean paste. They're trying to find a better way to explain grass, since I asked if it is what cows eat. It tastes okay, but is quite chewy. Okay, they just said it was mugwort. They had to use the computer dictionary program to come up with that one (no surprise, since I don't know what that is). I'll probably eat it so I don't look rude, but it isn't the best Japanese food I've had. It's quite messy too. This week one teacher in the office has been distributing desserts to all the teachers for whatever reason. It's been nice though. They are doing parent-teacher-student conferences in the afternoon, so maybe this is a way to enjoy something nice after that.

Anyway, we eventually made it to the karaoke party, which turned out to be a competition with prizes. I have a problem singing karaoke because I can only hit notes at a pretty low octave. Must be all that bass playing in high school. So if I sing a song, it is best if it has a low voice. I need to start singing Barry White or something. :)

I sang Elvis's "Blue Christmas," but I didn't sing very well. I had quite a hard time hearing myself singing, so it was difficult. The winner was another JET, Jennifer Teeter. She also comes to the English dinners. Her voice is amazing, so she won quite easily. One of her JET friends, Janet, came also and got third place. Second place when to another women. I think the prizes were bookstore gift certificates. At the end, everyone tried to convince Victoria's parents to sing, but they absolutely refused to. They were curious why the Japanese wanted to hear them sing so badly, since they think their own voices are not very good. I think it really comes down to wanting everyone to have a good time. They figure that if you aren't singing at karaoke, then you aren't having a good time. The great thing about Japanese people is that if you suck, they will still encourage you to try karaoke. I've never seen anyone laugh (unless there said a joke) at someone's singing and they always applaud, even if you are the worst singer ever. It's really a friendly and supportive atmosphere.

After the karaoke thing, we went to Victoria's place and her mother made dinner. It was quite delicious, especially considering the meager spices that us JETs tend to have. I did the dishes, which caused Victoria's mom lots of consternation for reasons I wasn't clear on. I guess she thought I'd never done dishes before and was doing a poor job or something.

I don't really know if her parents like me or not. I'd like for them to like me, but if they don't then that's okay too. It's strange: when I was in high school, parents seemed quite happy that I was going out with their daughter. Somehow, after college that seems to have changed. All the parents I've met have been distant or fairly guarded when meeting me, never really eager to find out more about me or establish a strong relationship. I wonder why it's changed. I guess the parents have their reasons, which I imagine stem more out of concern for their daughters' well-being than any true dislike for me. Maybe they should be worried: after all, I've got quite a status as a girl-corrupting rebel. One of my high school clubs actually had to develop the slogan "Sex, drugs, and rock n' roll: hide your daughters" because of my reputation of corruption. Okay, so that club was quiz bowl and it was big joke, but I'm sure subliminally they were referring to me. We actually had to go to the principal's office because one of the teachers said our t-shirts promoted rape. We weren't in big trouble, we just agreed to not wear them to school anymore. The shirts were quite funny though, since a bunch of straight-laced nerd types were wearing them. Maybe I used to come off as more of a studious guy with high ambitions than I do now. I guess that might affect parents' opinions. Or perhaps it's just a "Meet the Parents" sort of effect, where no one is really good enough for their daughter. I didn't set their yard on fire though or desecrate anyone's ashes (yet). Hmmm, I'll have to remember this someday when I have kids, especially if I have a daughter. I'll remember to be more excited about post-college boyfriends. In some ways that makes more sense, because you are more likely to end up related to a college or post-college boyfriend than a high school one.