My old host Dad's company has a New Year's party every year, and he invited me
to come along this year. It was mainly all about food, bingo, a dizzy running
game, and (for some of them) drinking. And there was a really great view.

Me, my old host mom, my old host brother, one of the ladies from the office whose name I don't know (although I did hear her called "glasses" in Japanese once), and my brother's friend.

Eating... something. I forget the name. But it was one of those funny Japanese double words that come up a lot like "shiba-shiba" or "doki-doki".

This gets just about everybody at the party. My host mom took my camera and went around taking pictures of all the tables. She's almost as bad as Suus! :)

Here's that dizzy running game! Spin around on the bat five times, then make a dash for the prizes at the other end of the room. Sounds simple enough, but the pictures just below show what usually happens during that mad dash for prizes...

My brother and I with a couple prizes we won from Bingo.

This is... well... some guy... with a noodle on his lip. Yeah.

There isn't a single problem in all of Japan that can't be solved by a round of janken (or, as you English folks know it, rock-paper-scissors). I've heard Anita say that that's even how they pick the next Prime Minsiter (or President, or whatever it is in Japanese).

Ah, the main course. Or a big fish skeleton left over from the sashimi platter. One or the other.

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