Ours was a sullen group, a few dour old couples, a particularly kurai mom and her homely daughter, and two old biddies who were traveling sans hubbies and hence were the most good-natured of the bunch. Because my wife was there, I had to dial down the obnoxiousness and limit myself to observations such as, say, observing that an especially a nasty-looking commie-block housing unit looks just like the way they build 'em in Japan.
There were the usual boring, schematic inquiries as to whether I liked natto and what other Japanese food might offend my gaijin palate?
"Uh, well, I don't like shrimp and crab."
"Really?! But crab is so delicious!"
"It's an arthropod - it's essentially a big sea spider. Don't you think those long-legged Hokkaido crabs look [I]exactly[/I] like spiders?"
"[Puts hands over ears] Don't say that! And crab is still delicious!"
So we were at a seafood restaurant and they were serving this Adriatic species of, I guess it was shrimp, but it was long, gruesome, and segmented, just like a mukade. So I couldn't help remarking, "My God, you're eating a mukade! It might be yummy and non-poisonous, but just look at it - it's got segments and mandibles, and leg-like appendages on every segment." After hearing enough of this, one old gal actually put her li'l arthropod down and stopped eating. Heh heh...ah tell ya!
-catone
-they don't call lice "crabs" for nothin'
