PaniSuta and Cheese Fries

Okay, on to PaniSuta! Still wondering what it is? Allow me to explain. For the past 3 1/2 years, the four guys of *pnish* have been hosting a radio show in Kiba every Saturday from 5pm to 6pm. The studio is really tiny, but one of the walls is a huge window, so people can come by and watch what's going on and listen to it outside. They recently announced that Saturday's show would be their last, so we knew we had to go watch.
And watch we did!

That's the studio right there. Just that tiny little area in front of the window. We knew there would likely be a lot of other people coming to see the very last show too, so we got there extra early - around 3:30. Luckily, Cinnamon and I had planned for all this waiting and brought a mini picnic in our new bento boxes! It was full of fruit and veggies and cheese and crackers, all arranged in a visually appealing display.

There were more tomatoes, but we ate them before I remembered to take the picture.

We also had a container of plum slices and cherries, one with 3 different kinds of sliced cheese, and one with various snacks (more Pucca, some mini Oreos and two mini fruit jellies), but they weren't super attractive, so we didn't take any pictures of them. But it was delicious~!

Finally, the show started, and luckily Courtney was there with us to help translate some of what they were talking about. At the end, one of the guys came out to sing a bit of one of his songs (he's put out 3 mini-CDs), all the guys were given flowers by the radio station staff, and they all came out to thank everyone for coming.

But we decided to wait around for a bit in the hopes that the guys would come out and maybe shake hands with us or something. (You can't pass up an opportunity like that. It's like shaking hands with a celebrity!)

There's me and Cinnamon waiting around, clearly very happy to have had the chance to see the guys in person again.

And the other girls we came with! From left to right, there's Sara (from Spain), Katie (from Kenucky), Gigantor, and down in front, Courtney (originally from Louisiana, but is currently teaching English in Hikone, Japan).

Luckily, our waiting paid off! One of the guys came out a few minutes later, but was in a hurry because he had to get to rehearsals for a play he's doing. Probably ten minutes after that, the rest of the guys came out and shook every single person's hand who was in the line that formed (and there were probably close to 100 people). Needless to say, we were incredibly happy to have been able to shake hands with 3/4 of *pnish*
Then we headed back to Shibuya for dinner. And you'll all be thinking "Why would they go to Japan to eat there?" but that's what Courtney wanted, and neither Cinnamon nor I were particularly hungry after our picnic.

So yep, we went to the Outback Steakhouse! It was really good, and almost like back home, except the bill for the five of us was about $100 (and none of us even had steak). After that, it was 9:30, so we called it a night and went our separate ways.

Today, we'll be meeting up with the girls again in Hachioji (about 30min outside Shinjuku) to eat some genuine Japanese yakiniku! It's all you can eat night, so we're taking advantage of it. Yakiniku is essentially different kinds of meat you grill at your table, accompanied by various dipping sauces. According to Courtney, it's a really fun experience (I'm assuming something similar to fondue, perhaps?) We'll let you know how it turns out!