Bonenkai and Christmas on Okinawa

The lab had its traditional "Bonenkai" last week. A Bonenkai is the "forget the year party" that is very common in Japan. Basically, it is a time to go out and drink a lot of beer with your coworkers, friends, or some other group you are involved in. It was a lot of fun, almost everyone from the lab was there.

The first picture is of Takuma and Nate with their first beer of the evening...they are happy about it. In the next picture you'll see tequila roulette, corn, edamame, and raw horse meat; just a few of the items we ordered that evening. The horse meat actually tasted really good, just a bit chewy. The tequila roulette is a tray with one teq uila and 3 waters and the next picture shows the participants. Obuchi-san (in the stripes) won! (Or lost, depending on how you look at it.)


Jamie and Mika invited everyone from the lab over for Christmas dinner. Christmas in Japan is typically considered "party time" or "couple time" and New Years is "family time." A few students from the lab and Nate and I went over to Jamie's. We had a great time, and Micah especially like showing off her Christmas presents! Mika made some delicious spring rolls, two chickens (I think Jamie had a hand in one of those), stuffing, mashed potatoes, vegetable stir fry, and some gravy. It was all delicious. Nate and I made Baingan Ka Bharta (Indian Eggplant) and Naan bread, and Sung-Yin and Javier brought a pizza. It was quite a feast! We topped all of that off with some homemade Christmas cookies made by Mika and ourselves. Here are a few pictures from the evening.


Kris' sister, Tricia is coming for a visit...our first visitor. Y'all better get on that. We are excited to spend some time with her and to show her around. We're gonna have ourselves a time!