Just sing, sing a song.

I've gotten into the habit of saying hello to basically any kid that I run into in my neighbourhood - at the supermarket, the laundromat, the convenience store, etc. I've been accustomed to doing greetings, since we have to do it whenever you pass someone in the hallways at school. (I've gotten my kids to stop saying "Konnichiwa" to me. They've at least started going with "Herro, Gemma-sensei!" or even just "Herro, Gemma!") The other night, I even gave a little wave to an adorable five-year-old kid who kept sneaking peeks at me while at the family restaurant up the road from me. It turns out he wasn't one of my students. His mother happily walked him over to my table, because her son was keen to do a proper aisatsu. Cute! I like to think these little interactions are a mild form of... i-n-t-e-r-n-a-t-i-o-n-a-l-i-z-a-t-i-o-n.

Last night, we ended up at one of our fave snack bars. It was actually the mama-san's (the lady who owns the bar) birthday, so lots of her customers brought in big bouquets and presents for her. One guy even brought a cake and some champagne, which we all indulged in after singing "Happy Birthday!" on karaoke. As the night progressed, the karaoke song selection got interesting. I sang Lady Gaga with the server, a girl who happens to be the teenage daughter of the mama-san. And I got a couple of song requests from one of the older men sitting at the counter. He wanted to hear TLC's "Waterfalls" and "Last Christmas" from me. Popular hits in Japan, ayo! I also threw on John Denver's "Take me home, country roads" and the Carpenters' "Sing." These two songs are sung in my first-year classes at school, so I knew they are pretty popular among the Japanese public and ideal karaoke songs.

Let the world sing along.