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Wednesday, September 3

Bye Bye Beach Bars

Considering that I am not much on the party scene these days, it makes it really low key on holiday weekends for the KH and I. Not that I don’t try still! Which is exactly why I pushed to head to the beach bars for their last open weekend, coinciding with the American Labor Day holiday.

I know I talked about these bars somewhere last summer. Basically, they open the first weekend in July and close the last weekend in August. Only two short months of fun, sun and drinks on the beach. This is incredibly depressing when summer weather here continues until at least mid October. We can’t figure out why they would close down when there is still plenty of revenue to bring in. It’s the same thing with pools… why close them after Labor Day when the temperatures are still soaring into the 90s for another month or so? They build these wonderful bars, all with some sort of great theme, only to rip them down in two short months! Of course, this is just one more thing I will never understand about the Japanese way. So quit trying, I say.

We headed down early on Saturday night so we could watch the sun set while we had a good meal and KH had a few beers. After strolling up and down the beach checking out each place, we settled on the next to busiest (the first being a Mexican-themed place full of drunk and half dressed Japanese and Americans, which I felt was just rubbing the ‘no drink’ thing in my face a little too much), a thatch-roofed, Reggae-themed bar with a band playing in their sandy manmade alcove. After a little confusion on the where and how to order, we pulled up chairs… that I might add were definitely meant for hips that weren’t spreading in preparation for childbirth… but once I was snuggly down in, I was left in the perfect spot to take in both the ocean and the strange mix of Marley sung in Japanese Engrish.

It didn’t take long before the crowd in the Reggae bar livened up to its competitors further down the beach. Something about the sun setting and it being the last big weekend for beach bars made for the perfect party. Though for some of us, we’re simply all about being the early bird these days. After another stroll up and down the beach, splashing in the usual minimal surf of evening tides on Zushi beach, I was ready to head back home… back to my stretchy pants and quiet time with my husband. We’re trying to get that as much as we can before it all changes just ten short weeks from now.

It may have been one of our most laid back holiday weekends of all time, but it was also one of the best. Quiet, together and filled with love.

I hope yours was the perfect Labor Day weekend too.

2 comments:

Lulu said...

OH I love the beach bars they have in Japan!!!! I have not been to the ones at Zushi before though although the ones near Enoshima are good!

A friend and I decided one summer we will take time off work and open our own one down there- I think it would be so much fun to be by the beach everyday!

Best of luck with the last 10 weeks! I am not sure if you have mentioned it on here before but do you know if you are expecting a boy or a girl??

Kimono Karen said...

Owning one of those beach bars for the summer would indeed be an awesome event! Do it when you return! And then let me know where you set up shop. :)

It's a boy. And by the feel of it, a soccer player.