Atagi Not Atari

My friend Dan e-mailed me and invited me to a party. I thought it said Atari Party, wow a retro party of some sort. I need to read more thouroughly next time. Low and behold it was an Atagi party. Pictured above are the very kind and generous Atagis. Mr. Atagi use to be in charge of the Iwade JETS. Every year he would host a party and feed the foreigners the oddest Japanese food that many Japanese don't even care too much for. So I knew that I was in for an interesting evening.

Not pictured that I did try is natto. Everyone always asks if you like natto. It's one of the big questions you get asked if you are a foreigner living here. Natto is fermented soy bean. I did try it and even had two decent sized bites. It is weird and stringy. Mr. Atagi enjoyed watching me try to get a bite into my mouth. I can now officially answer the big question, I do not like natto. Pictured above is squid. I'm a fan of calamari, however the raw thing is not for me. It is chewy. I tried to take 3 bites of a piece and was getting no where with it breaking up so I just swallowed it whole. Odd texture. What appears to look like a ball in Mr. Atagi's hand is actually a giant citrus fruit. You can see the inside above also. It is like a sweet grapefruit. Very good, but very expensive. That one piece cost 5,000 yen (roughly $45). In addition to these items, we enjoyed some good nabe, cakes, and a variety of Japanese drinks (sake from Okinawa). After dinner we loaded up the van and headed to kareoke. I as usual reframed from singing and just enjoyed listening to everyone else belt out songs. It was a good night.