Farewell Junko

Yesterday we had another party with our coworkers. This time it was a farewell party for one of the Japanese staff members, Junko. She's moving to Fukuoka and getting married.
We knew we were going to a Japanese restaurant that served Sashimi (raw fish) but they had told us that there would also be other choices... for Nick.
Neither of us expected to see the presentation of the Sashimi. We were both surprised by the "face" staring back at us throughout dinner (see below).

I tried some new things. Nick lost his appetite due to the look and smell of all the seafood. This was an all you can eat and drink dinner. Nick took advantage of the drinks to make up for the food.

I love seafood but I have found that seafood in Japan is different. For example, I love shrimp but, as pictured above, these are raw shrimp. They have a different texture and taste and I didn't care for them raw. I do love octopus especially because it tastes the same whether it's raw or cooked. The tuna is still too chunky for me to eat but the thinner slices of fish were pretty good.
There seemed to be an endless supply of food. After this Sashimi plate, there was a plate of tempura (breaded) shrimp patties along with chicken wings and sausages (weird combination, huh?). After that there was a plate of breaded pork patties mixed with egg and soy sauce followed by fried rice. I didn't care for that too much but it was tolerable. The grand finale was the seafood "nabe" (hot pot). This hot pot was a sort of stew full of fish, clams, crab legs, cabbage, mushrooms and maybe some other random things. It was a little spicy but delicious. Unfortunately, by then I was already kind of full from all the other stuff. The bad thing about the hot pot was the strong smell of the seafood being cooked. Even though I loved it I can admit that it did stink.

The Japanese women ate like it was their job! You wouldn't believe how much they ate compared to their small size. Nick and I were both amused by our manager, Yazue, because she brought her own disposable tupperware containers to take food home (see below). It was "all you can eat" and obviously you are not allowed to take the leftovers home. However, since we had our own little room she was able to sneak out a few containers full.

Below are Yazue, Junko and Miki. After a few drinks they were still holding up strong!