One Live Night: Futako Shinchi BBQ

Paul and I had talked about planning a BBQ all spring but by the time summer showed it's face I had gotten really lazy about planning anything. Paul, however, never lost the drive and despite several failed attempts his hard work finally paid off Sunday evening, much to the delight of the roughly 100 people who showed up. The main contributors besides Paul, of course, who did the vast majority, were Kotone & Taka (the drivers), Mark, Ken (the grill master), Demitri (the dj), Ashley and myself. Paul had been preparing for the last few days straight and was up & going at 6:45 that morning. Ashley swung by to drop off a big bundle of fireworks at my pad around 3 and then we headed to his place to bring his kitchen table back to my neighborhood (it was a lot easier than it sounds), then got my kitchen table and took both to the river. All the prep work went smoothly except that Ash and I saw a corpse moments after it had been a person following a very successful train jump suicide. Sometimes I hate Japan. Aside from that really crazy bullshit the BBQ went off without a hitch and lots of friends from new & old came. I had to leave several times for beer runs and to attend Kiyo's birthday party, but I still had plenty of time to socialize, dance and enjoy the night with my friends. It will go down as one of the most memorable nights of the summer...... so far.