I have 18 roommates

So I very recently moved into a new apartment, with lots of Japanese roommates.  It's a "share house" which is basically a college dorm for big people.  But I only moved in 1.5 days before I left Japan for the week I spent in the States, so I hadn't yet met most of the roomies very much.

But on the national holiday the day before Thanksgiving (no relation), many of the roomies decided to get bellig.  So I got home from class, passed out by 5 pm due to mega jetlag, and woke up around 10 or 11 pm to find a party in my house.  They shared the shochu (vodka, ish) and whiskey liberally, but basically everyone else had a fairly low alcohol tolerance so there were a lot of red faces.

Gaydar is culturally subjective.  In the states, I have surprisingly good gaydar.  If I can tell at all, I usually pick up on the 'mo vibe upon the first eye-contact when meeting someone new.  This is not necessarily true in Japan, in large part because much of the hip/fashionable clothing for young men would be effeminate--dare I say fabulous--by our standards.

Today's featured item of Japanese Goods with Questionably Translated Names: STRAIGHT TEA.  They did not have any GAY TEA in stock.

One of my housemates, Mochi, is cute as a button and flirtatious with anything that moves and basically a Japanese version of my college roommate Kelvin.  I had been wondering about him, but as the drinks kept pouring themselves the following happened:

Mochi: I want to study English so I can meet a good guy.  I just want Zak Efron to touch me.  I'd say "No Zak, no!" but really I would want it.
Erriot: Oh, so you're gay.
Mochi: Who told Erriot I was gay?!

Lolwut.  This was not the first loaded-with-gayness thing he said, but it was definitely the most unmistakable.

Added fun note, many of roommates go by vomit-inducingly cute nicknames.  Like, Okazaki Hiroyuki goes by Okapi.  His bestie Ogawa Chihiro goes by Ogachi.  I swear that Okapi and Ogachi are different evolved stages of the same pokemon.


For Thanksgiving itself,  it was my first time not with family.  Bummer.  But to deaden the pain by eating my feelings, I made an imitation of Sweet Potato Casserole to share with the roomies.  Japan does not have sweet potatoes, but this did not stop me.  I made do with Satsuma-imo, which are vaguely sweet-potato-ish.  But purple on the outside and yellow on the inside.

Also, explaining "Casserole" to people not from a culture inundated with casserole is surprisingly hard.  "Um... you can make it out of lots of things.  It can be tuna or it can have pasta.  But its a big thing you eat for dinner.  And its not a dessert food unless is sweet potato casserole, when it is."