No, Really, I Am an American

Anna and Mike’s ceremony is in a week so Scottish Lou and I planned a night out for her, as is our duty as not-bridesmaids. We wanted to try and do it up the Western way, but neither of us is very good with Japanese and we didn’t think it would be that easy to find a strip place. So, we settled on dinner at To the Herbs and karaoke, figuring that would be very Japanese.

Of the thirteen people we invited out, only six of us were able to come. Lou was in charge of keeping Anna busy while I went to meet up with the other girls and head over to the restaurant. Anna apparently had no clue about the whole affair ‘cuz Lou sent me a text at 7:00 saying they were still at Bic Camera and were going to be a little late. It was actually lucky that that happened because a couple of us were running late as well.

Dinner was fantastic. Anna told us all about the planning and negotiations she had to go through with the people in Kobe. In Japan, they’re all about their package deals and set meals and such, but it was all a bit too expensive for what Mike and Anna wanted. I guess Anna was ever a bride because she managed to frighten the co-ordinator into many free things. She said that just by looking at her face, the guy knew she was not pleased and quickly changed prices or accommodated their wishes more.

Lou later told me she had a devil of a time coming up with excuses for keeping Anna at her place and then thinking up things for why she wanted to eat dinner so late and why she didn’t want to go to Umeda, which was where Anna suggested they have dinner. I’m glad that she had that part of the job ‘cuz I think I woulda given something away.

Karaoke was interesting. I’ve never gone without Mike being there, too, and it’s pretty funny when Anna has had more than one drink. The scores were quite interesting, not that any of us really care about ‘em, but still.

So next week’s the big day. I can’t wait to see Mike and Anna all decked out. It should be a lot of fun.