Because this is actually a saga of events and I'm tired of doing day-by-day. Also, the truth is that Daikoku consists of at least 57% of the rest of my day-to-day accounts. You will see why in a moment. After you see why, you may want to get up to grab a snack. Or just leave this for another day entirely when you have four hours of your life free, because this saga is long and action-packed. And full of meat.
INTRODUCTION
Daikoku is a meat restaurant in Kanayama. Specifically it is a 豚肉/ぶたにく/pork restaurant, but it's actually more like a pork bar/izakaya because there are no chairs. And it's mainly bar food, because the pork is cut up into choice pieces (cheek, tongue, stomach, intestines, ANY PART OF THE PIG YOU DESIRE) and then grilled on sticks. So, kind of like yakitori but not chicken. They also have beef, I believe, and things that go with alcohol like edamame. And tomatoes, apparently. And tofu. And cabbage. (The cabbage is actually delicious.)
We go to Daikoku every Wednesday and Saturday. It is, it has to be said, our go-to hang out place, and the first time we went (when we were lured in by Mako [see below]) we actually tried to look for another place because of Gray's vegetarianism, but in the end Massiel and I have guilt complexes. The only reason we're not there all the time is because we have to order food and, judging from the way our bills have increased during each visit, we have no self-control when it comes to limiting our orders. The first time we went our bill was about 7000 yen for the four of us. The second time, it was around 11,000. And the third? 13,000. YES, WE ARE BROKE COLLEGE STUDENTS (IN JAPAN!) AND THIS IS A PROBLEM. :( Although the fourth time (just now, actually) we managed to keep it down to 5000 yen because a) Rachael wasn't with us because she went skiing with her host family for the weekend and b) we actually planned our orders beforehand so we'd know exactly what to get.
It is our favorite restaurant, if you haven't guessed. Our goal is to become regulars (we're well on our way) and also to establish enough rapport to, oh I don't know, hang out with them when they're not at work. Because besides the fact that this restaurant sells DELICIOUS meat, the guys that work there? Are absolutely precious. (And attractive.) Scroll down for an explanation of that.
So no matter what, every Saturday and Wednesday night we take the subway into Kanayama and walk to Daikoku. Usually one of the guys is out trying to coax customers in--except I don't see why they need to, because it's usually always packed--and the past few times we've been there, they've just been like, "'Oh hey, you're back?" Of course we are back. WE LOVE YOU AND YOUR FOOD. Though in reality we're just like, yeah. Hai. We're back.
We have learned many things from Daikoku adventures thus far:
1. Cultural notes, because we just had to know why this one plum wine is called "Obaa-chan's plum wine" (Grandma's plum wine). It's because grandmothers in Japan usually make their own plum wine, apparently.
2. Kanji. We asked the waiter. We can now recognize the kanji for 'salt'! YAY.
3. How to budget. Because if you don't plan your budget around Daikoku, you'll be flat broke in a day. (Story of our lives.)
4. Japanese. Of course. If we're not babbling incoherent Japanese to the waiters/trying to figure out what to say to them in incoherent babble, they're talking to us. And we don't mind. ♥
5. How to overcome language barriers and flops. Infamously, Massiel wanted to ask one of the waiters what time the place opened. She ended up phrasing the question as "from how long are you open?" Poor boy didn't know what to do. Also, "Owari onegaishimasu." Which technically means "finish, please."
6. How to use our peripheral vision to the best extent. ...What?
7. I can eat 30 sticks of meat. No surprise there to those of you that know me. However, 30 sticks of meat can NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN because MY MONEY. MY MONEY. WHERE DID IT GO!?
WHO WORKS AT DAIKOKU?/THE CAST OF CHARACTERS
9 wonderfully adorable guys work at Daikoku. We know 8 of them and have yet to see the last, though we are very intrigued.
First of all, a disclaimer: we're not actually (very) creepy. The guys have chalkboards set up around the restaurant called Daikoku no Kodawari, which is hard to translate but basically means "The Meaning of Daikoku." It lists their names, their "titles" (we have no idea of the stories behind any of them, but as an example, Ryou-kun is "The Good Singer" and Yuuta is "The Gang Leader") and then goes on to say how Daikoku got started. We can't read some of the kanji, but from what we can understand, it has been their dream to start this restaurant, and they love seeing everyone's smiling faces. HOW CUTE IS THAT? The answer is "extremely," in case you didn't know. In fact, 65% of the reason we love Daikoku is because we're fascinated with the guys who work there and started it. They're all obviously best friends, this is their dream and they're good at what they do--and I don't just mean grilling meat. In all seriousness, their smiling faces make us happy. And I know that sounds cheesy, but it's the truth.
DAIKOKU CAST (real name first, our nickname second):
1. Yuppe, or Mullet Guy
2. Yukkun, or Chubby, Happy Owner (or simply Chubby or Owner)
3. Yuuta, or Yeppo/Taemin/Massiel's (he is the main reason we started going back)
4. Ryou-kun, or Tall Guy
5. Yuki, or Tall 2 Tall Harder
6. Mako, or Greeter (who has the scrunchiest, most adorable smile ever and won't ever let us forget it)
7. New Fatty (we don't actually know his name)
8. Shino, or Smuggie (because he looks cocky ALL THE TIME. Also, he goes to Nanzan, too! Though we have yet to actually see him there.)
We're not positive on their ages and we're not going to dwell on it too much, but with the exception of Yuppe and Yukkun, they're all relatively youngish. Shino is 20 or 21, because he's a second-year at Nanzan. We don't know about anyone else, though. In fact, the rumor among us is that Yuuta is married with 4 kids. And that's hilarious, but you have to see him to understand why.
OUR JOURNEY: BECOMING REGULARS
One day we're going to walk in and they're going to know exactly who we are.
OH WAIT THAT'S ALREADY HAPPENED.
They know us. It's hard not to, because the first time we went Massiel was so intrigued (a.k.a. going ridiculously insane in the best of ways) over how Yuuta looks exactly like Taemin from SHINee, so we took a picture with the staff (and then she cried out of sheer happiness). But really, we go twice a week as crazy gaijin exchange students into a meat izakaya surrounded mainly by salarymen, but we know they talk about us (and write about us in their diaries...sorry, inside joke). When we walked in today it was the first time we met Shino, and immediately Ryou-kun went over to do whisper-whisper and tell him that we were the Nanzan girls. We were THOSE GIRLS. And lo and behold, Shino comes over and asks if we go to Nanzan.
What's hilarious is that they know us as 4, so when we went today as 3 they were kind of confused. Had to do a double-take, you know.
But we've already gotten so far that today Ryou-kun gave us free food! :) It was raw liver sashimi. And it was actually good.
THE DAIKOKU STORY: TO BE CONTINUED...
AND NOW: PICTURES.
Because I know that's all you're here for. No captions, because the contents are kind of obvious?
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