For the past two weeks I've been hearing a few guys around the Seminar House talk constantly about this place called "Jackie John's". Always they would come back stuffed and raving about this little restaurant, saying how cheap and amazing it is, and also that it's quite small and a little dirty. They said it was just on the way to Makino Station. I've tried looking for it twice but I could never find it.
Well today before Negotiation I ran into Jesse and a bunch of other Seminar House I folks and he said he was planning on going there tonight, so I asked if I could join him and he said "Sure." So I met up with him at about 6:30 in the dorm and there was a whole mess of people going, about eight or ten from our dorm. One girl was upset over this and just ran into the kitchen all flustered... Apparently we might not all fit. Oh well. Half of us took bikes and the other half walked, in order to not overwhelm this place, which I then learned is run by only one guy.
I remember my first time walking back from Makino Station. There was this ridiculously tiny shop that was open serving some food and beer. It's a long counter with just sitting room on the other end of it. If you lean back you would hit the wall. It looked just a little dirty though... I entertained the thought of trying it but I thought the locals might be annoyed with a foreigner eating in such a place that clearly had... well, local color written all over it.
Never did I think this was the same place. Once I got inside it wasn't just a little dirty, but dirty as hell. Left to the stove the wall and windows were caked in black grease. Various cooking instruments piled the counter, wires hung all over the back wall, the ceiling, the walls, all was pretty grimy. A Buzz-Lightyear clock adorned one of the support beams and ticked away under the caked flourescent lights.
The real name of it is O-sake Dojo, not "Jackie John's", which some other guy must have come up with; why I don't know. The old guy was refered to as "Taisho-san" but I think that's a general term for at least sushi chefs, but I guess maybe it works for single male chefs as well. Anyway it was packed (and not just seemingly so due to the size,) so he could only do a few dishes at a time. The only two meals that I know he makes was yakisoba (grilled noodles) which he makes his own sauce for which is apparently the best ever, and "Take Five" which is something he must have made up, which was rice, onion, some meat, noodles, and spices all fried up. Ordering here was confusing, and I think he either assumed three of us wanted take-five or just had it waiting... The three of us who were planning on it just grabbed it and ate. It was delicious. For such a dirty place the food was great, and a huge plate of this was only 500 yen. It could serve two! I think I'm bringing tupperware next time.
Here's a picture I took with my phone.
My photo doesn't do much justice but maybe just to illustrate the counter and the wall across from it. Nor does it show the grime and dirt in this place. Justin, another guy who is crazy about this place brought two girls one time and they both just walked away disgusted. I really enjoyed watching this other girl look at the place for the first time, quite a look of surprise, but at least she stayed.
Aside from O-Sake Dojo (which foreigners have been going to for years, a google search proves,) Negotiation was interesting today. We are doing The Commons dilema or something along those lines. This counts as a test grade. You have Cooperators and Competitors. The total number of Cooperators divided by the number of participants multiplied by 89 is your score as a Cooperator. Competitors get that number +25. What you end up with finally after 8 of these rounds, one per week, is a test grade, about 10% of the total grade. See the dilema?
Now, everyone could Cooperate, but then we all get 89's. If everyone did, people would be tempted to Compete and get an extra 25 points, so if only one person did they would get 85+25 = 100, an A+.
Immediately people were upset, and trying to get everyone to Cooperate, and no one was thinking this through, even though calculators were being used in a frenzy. Why are we doing this in a Negotiation class? Isn't this more suited for statistics or economics? One guy took charge and said we should all Cooperate, I'll collect your actions at the door to hand in to the professor. Of course not everyone was asked about their opinions, which makes this action somewhat hostile and inconsiderate. So a few Competed, and even funnier, did so after watching everyone else write "Cooperate". Oops. Guess he never thought that out.
My idea, which I'll bring up next week after class if I can, is that we all Cooperate. However, this is a Negotiation class. And it is a class. We should all collectively negotiatiate with the professor about how unfair it is to consider this a test, as it's all about screwing people over to get a grade. Personally I think this is totally fair, and a great idea due to how fun this is, but it's the best argument. There are more of us, despite him being old-hand at this. I personally think he would love us wanting to negotiate with him (which is the point of this which people don't understand.) That would put him in a good mood, and would help us seal the deal while giving in some minor concessions like writing an essay or something.
We'll see how that goes.
Aside from O-Sake Dojo (which foreigners have been going to for years, a google search proves,) Negotiation was interesting today. We are doing The Commons dilema or something along those lines. This counts as a test grade. You have Cooperators and Competitors. The total number of Cooperators divided by the number of participants multiplied by 89 is your score as a Cooperator. Competitors get that number +25. What you end up with finally after 8 of these rounds, one per week, is a test grade, about 10% of the total grade. See the dilema?
Now, everyone could Cooperate, but then we all get 89's. If everyone did, people would be tempted to Compete and get an extra 25 points, so if only one person did they would get 85+25 = 100, an A+.
Immediately people were upset, and trying to get everyone to Cooperate, and no one was thinking this through, even though calculators were being used in a frenzy. Why are we doing this in a Negotiation class? Isn't this more suited for statistics or economics? One guy took charge and said we should all Cooperate, I'll collect your actions at the door to hand in to the professor. Of course not everyone was asked about their opinions, which makes this action somewhat hostile and inconsiderate. So a few Competed, and even funnier, did so after watching everyone else write "Cooperate". Oops. Guess he never thought that out.
My idea, which I'll bring up next week after class if I can, is that we all Cooperate. However, this is a Negotiation class. And it is a class. We should all collectively negotiatiate with the professor about how unfair it is to consider this a test, as it's all about screwing people over to get a grade. Personally I think this is totally fair, and a great idea due to how fun this is, but it's the best argument. There are more of us, despite him being old-hand at this. I personally think he would love us wanting to negotiate with him (which is the point of this which people don't understand.) That would put him in a good mood, and would help us seal the deal while giving in some minor concessions like writing an essay or something.
We'll see how that goes.
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