Title: Domesticity
By: bakayaro onna
Rating: M - for language, mentioning sex and penises and disgusting amounts of sickening sweet fluff.
Pairing: Eiri and Shuichi (duh!)
Started: January 07, 2006
Completed: December 29, 2007
Summary: A freak snowstorm shuts down the city. What will Shuichi find when he arrives home earlier than usual?
Thanks: to this story's beta, Aja, who whupped this into better shape than me and got me looking at my work more closely so I even made new changes on my own after she looked. Betas are your friends, people!
Warnings: This is a warm and fuzzy story, full of sticky sweetness and a "No Angst" sign hanging on it. You have been warned.
Disclaimer: I do not own Gravitation. Maki Murakami, Sony, TokyoPop and The RightStuf do. I just write in this universe because I love these two young men so much. Sena is my original character so she better not show up in a story without my express permission.
Note: This story has some British words/spellings. Author notes at the end of this story, as usual.
Domesticity
On Wednesday, January, 4, 2006, the massive amount of precipitation from the freak snowstorms caused havoc all across Japan. In Tokyo, many businesses shut down until the worse of the weather passed and The NG Studios decided to follow suit. Calls pouring through the switchboard told of international travelers on planes being re-routed to safer airports, customers scattered across the island country finding themselves stopped and stuck a fair distance from Tokyo because of road and rail closures, and the various transportation options throughout the city stymieing local clientele. The final decision to close the studio was based on purely legal issues: it was wiser to tell their customers they could re-schedule after the brutal weather dissipated than to have those litigious international clients sue NG for injuries received en-route to their destination.
After being released shortly before noon to go home, NG's star vocalist, Shindô Shuichi, felt lucky his train was still functioning, albeit a little off-schedule. The crowds were heavier than the usual lunch exodus, indicating many smaller companies were following the large corporations' decision. The quieter-than-usual passengers were an odd juxtaposition to the overly-cramped riding conditions.
His luck held after he hopped off and discovered one of his favorite fast-food take-away restaurants still open so he could purchase cooked cuisine for the next few days. Happy the bar and grill had already been prepared for the customary lunch crowd, Shu placed extra orders of their usual charbroiled selections to be sure his family had enough ready-to-eat rations if they were snowed-in.
The apartment refrigerator's contents were not just alcohol and condiments, like back when he first moved in; he knew their kitchen was currently being kept well-stocked. As luck would have it, both he and his life-mate were in town at the same time after months of separation due to business commitments. The Bad Luck band members had participated in the annual New Year live show, Kōhaku Uta Gassen, a few days ago and afterward, the couple had ecstatically reunited backstage. The lovers had blissfully treasured spending the New Year celebration together in each other's arms for the first time in a long while. Whenever their chaotic schedules allowed it, they liked staying home, hiding from the world, and nesting together as much as possible. The bountiful cupboards meant they would not go hungry if they did not get out for a while – whether from bad weather or from marathon sex. Shu's logic for today's take-away was simple: he wanted to give his currently overworked lover a break from cooking and the weather was a good excuse to bring home some hot and satisfying meals they could immediately share while snuggling together. He could bet his partner had barely touched the leftovers laid out for him that morning, so freshly cooked cuisine would be extra tempting to someone who had skipped breakfast.
The shop was almost balmy from all the warm bodies crowded inside and the grills working non-stop. Even though the small restaurant was packed tightly, the clientele was friendly, patient and enjoying the almost festive atmosphere, fueled in part by beer and sake. As he gathered his purchases together to leave, Shu heard the chefs through the kitchen pass-through yelling about running out of various ingredients and was thankful he had his extra provisions already in hand. It was obvious the café was quickly selling out of menu items as more businesses closed and people scurried to find some lunch anywhere before restaurants also shut their doors due to the nasty weather.
His luck followed him when he stopped at the neighborhood convenience store for a six-pack of American beer, two packs of Alfa menthol cigarettes, a variety of sweet and salty snacks and one large-size box of Okamoto condoms. He made it inside right before the shop locked its doors to new customers trying to enter. It took some time to check out; many others were stocking up on items in case the city was snow-bound longer than a couple of days. Some people in line were discussing the latest news concerning houses in other Prefectures caving in due to the snow's weight straining roofs. From the way they were skirting some of the specifics and sometimes speaking in soft tones, Shu knew people had perished in the bizarre accidents.
He stood quietly, items in hand, the plastic fast-food bags looped through and dangling from his wrists by the cut-out handles. He tried to ignore the straining weights caused by the cuisine and the added pressure to his spine from the full kerosene container in his backpack by thinking about his early return to his sexy partner and their happy home. The can was a physical reminder that he was the reason the apartment would be cold today. He had felt a little guilty about the heater running out of fuel yet again during the night and had picked up more kerosene on the way to work first thing that morning. Now he was glad he had made the purchase when he did - the fuel shelves in this convenience store were empty.
After paying for his goodies and making it back outside, Shu trudged steadily up the hill toward their apartment, juggling over-stuffed bags and a backpack filled with supplies while fighting the occasional buffeting winds and snow flurries. He knew Eiri was not expecting him back from work so early this day and he eagerly anticipated his lover's surprise. The singer grinned behind his fluffy scarf as he imagined what he would find when he got home.
A domesticated Eiri was a predictable Eiri.
With it being so cold today and the heater out of kerosene, Japan's leading romance novelist would not have left the king-sized bed to work in his study. Instead, he would have moved the laptop into the bedroom and worked in bed with the notebook in his lap while he sat propped against the headboard, cradled by an almost obscene amount of pillows. Quilts, futons, comforters and blankets piled around and on top of him would be keeping him toasty and warm. A large covered carafe with some piping hot beverage and a large steaming mug on a hot plate would be sitting on his nightstand close-by so he would not have to leave the warm nest very often for refills. He would feel cozy and content to remain in bed all day, typing away at his latest best-seller. In many ways, he was just like their cat: finding the best place to nestle in, remaining there as long as possible and protesting grumpily if forced to move.
The thought of his lover all toasty, relaxed and primed for cuddling made Shuichi's groin stir, in spite of the cold assaulting his body. He relished his lover's sensuality and libertine attitude. Eiri was such a hedonist, even when he was not being sexual. He loved being comfortable and enjoyed the pleasures of the flesh even when those pleasures dealt with mundane tasks such as sleeping, cooking, eating and working. He had taught his younger lover to overcome his acute shyness and enjoy those pleasures with him. When the weather was mild, they both walked around their residence wearing nothing at all. Even after all this time, the younger man still savored the electric feeling of their naked bodies brushing against each other while doing household chores or watching TV. A drop in temperature meant donning clothing - usually mismatched - made of soft fabrics that felt good to the skin and of textures that were cuddly-warm when they snuggled together on the couch.
Shu could easily imagine the garments Eiri would be wearing on an arctic day like today. He would bundle up in rumpled saggy old sweatpants with some blown-out seam holes in the crotch and butt areas, layered over ancient, somewhat tight and ridiculously too short thermal underwear leggings. Shu rolled his eyes, remembering how loudly Eiri had yelled when he had found those tatty leggings in the rag bin. The vocalist had not realized his lover had worn them when he was a teen in New York and they had sentimental value.
Shuichi's imagination moved up and down his sweetie's shabbily-clad body. A shapeless tee shirt – so gigantic they could both fit inside it at the same time with room to spare - would be under a baggy sweatshirt with an unraveling neckline. He would cover his feet with at least two mismatched layers of long, thick athletic socks and maybe even the old fuzzy pink bunny foot slippers Shu had given him years ago. If the writer really felt the cold, his full-length, hooded, blue terry bathrobe would be wrapped around and tightly cinched over the rest of the fabric mish-mash.
The only items missing from Shu's vision were a hat and some gloves. Although Eiri recognized the logic of keeping his head and hands covered to help warm the rest of his body, the writer always refused to wear a head covering and he could only be convinced to wear gloves on the most frigid days. The vocalist had recently purchased fingerless mitts for the novelist so he would have the ability to type or write with warm hands at any time, but so far, the man had refused to wear them. No matter how cold the author would get, his head would always remain exposed to the elements and his hands were usually bare and stuffed in his coat pockets. Shu shuddered as his penis twitched, remembering how his lover would sometimes stand behind him when they were outside and wrap his strong arms around the shorter man on the pretext of using the singer's jacket pockets to warm his hands.
Shuichi smiled again, this time evilly, thinking about how he could gleefully point out his partner's bad fashion sense to him when he saw him. The writer still got disgusted with the majority of the singer's cutting-edge casual street wear even after all their years together, so any time Shu could catch his lover in his comfy hodgepodge 'low-brow' garments had to be milked for all it was worth. He could not wait to get home and begin teasing and torturing his frumpy snuggle-bunny.
As much as his partner still bitched about being disturbed by the noise he made whenever he was home, Shuichi knew Eiri would be secretly pleased he had returned early. As their single and combined popularity continued to grow and expand over the years, more public and industry demands chipped away at their steadily diminishing moments together and any scrap of time they could scrounge they did so zealously. The upside for being such major international moneymakers for their companies was they now had some leverage to work deals concerning their time while at their Tokyo home base. Unless it was a very special case – such as gearing up for the next tour or book release - interviews, book signings and talk show appearances were only scheduled during the daytime hours. Eiri would not be pushed to produce when his life mate was in town and Shu would leave the recording studio no later than 6pm every evening so he could rush home to his partner when the writer was in residence.
Eiri was especially adamant about his significant other being in their apartment and in bed next to him every night whenever they could synchronize their schedules to be in the same place at the same time - something the younger man found especially endearing. Eiri's possessive nature never felt confining to the vocalist; he felt loved and cherished. He felt a similar possessive affection toward his cranky lover and had felt lucky when the stoic man had finally stopped pushing him away and had pulled the singer into a tight, tangible and poignant embrace. The emotional and physical feeling of that moment still resounded with him after all this time.
Shu breathed a deep sigh of relief when he finally made it home. He announced his return, dropped his packages and backpack, hung up all his outerwear, kicked off his snow-encrusted boots, stretched his body kinks out and shoved his feet into his thick sheep fleece slippers before sitting down on the hall tree bench to wait for her royal highness to make an appearance. She always expected a formal greeting from her 'parents' when they returned home or she would inflict her temper on them by swatting at them, usually when they did not expect it. She especially liked to ambush the men when they were peeing and extra vulnerable. Shu's early arrival home had put a kink in the 'welcome home' routine so she was not reclining in her usual tribute location – the small soft forest green velvet cushion on the bench.
He did not have a long wait; almost immediately, he caught a glimpse of one gold-flecked emerald green eye peering around the distant hall corner. The intent look only lasted a moment, and then their black-striped brown tabby cat dashed quickly toward him, chattering her welcome. She wore a puzzled expression on her streaked face, and looked a little confused by his early return but she was happy to see him nonetheless and hopped up into his lap, purring loudly. Shu quietly spoke his welcome to their little furry daughter, responding back to her constant meowing prattle with loving words and his own little high-pitched mews. Sena felt warmer than usual as he stroked the sides of her small compact body. She trilled and squeaked at him as she walked back and forth along the bench and across his legs as she told him about her day. Finally, she stood with her hind legs on his upper thighs, front paws planted on his chest and looked directly into his eyes, her purr becoming a louder noisy rumble. She rubbed her cheeks and cold nose on his chin a few times, and then jumped down, informing her daddy the welcome home worship was at an end. He stood up, walked to the end of the hallway and watched her dart down the corridor - tail straight in the air and tags jingling merrily - and into the men's bedroom. Shu smiled, guessing Eiri was exactly where he imagined his lover would be and Sena would be burrowing back in next to him.
Shu walked back to the entry, unpacked the kerosene from his backpack and quickly filled the space heater he had left there that morning. That done, he gathered the rest of his purchases and moved to the kitchen to put stuff away. After shelving the snacks and shoving the condom box in his jeans' pocket, he wrapped up the barely touched breakfast on the kitchen table and wiped clean the small green marble ashtray setting on the counter. He then prepared a small yotsumi yakitori, torikawa, yasai yaki and rice lunch for three from the take-away containers before stashing the rest of the food in the refrigerator. After placing their servings, chopsticks and two cold Kirin lagers on one of their zen trays, he opened a cigarette package and stuck one filtered cylinder in the notch of the ashtray before placing it on the food tray. He dropped both the open and unopened packs into a resealable plastic freezer bag and took the package to the secret area in the apartment where he kept the cigarettes stashed – one of the few places his sneaky and snoopy lover had not discovered yet. Returning to the kitchen, he quickly removed his lover's lunchtime medication doses from their labeled pillbox, placed them in the small ceramic sauce bowl placed on the tray for that purpose, covered the hot food with lids to keep the servings warm, picked up the zen and made his way down the hall to their bedroom.
Shu peeked into the room and smirked. Eiri was just as he pictured in his mind earlier except for three small details: the bunny foot slippers were on the floor next to the bed, the robe was draped over the chair and his lover's chin was resting on his chest as he snored softly. A few damp drool droplets dappled the worn sweatshirt's front. The LCD screen's light from the laptop resting on his thighs gently illuminated the sleeping blond beauty. To the left of Eiri's rhythmically rumbling form and close to his hip, two dark pointed cat ear tips stuck out from under a pile of blankets. Shu snickered at the sight of their lurking daughter, who shared the same preferences for warmth and comfort as her blond mommy.
The vocalist was elated to see Eiri sleeping. The writer was not as young as he used to be and had been pulling a few unscheduled all-nighters lately while feverishly working on his most recent best-seller's English translation as well as writing a new novel.
Eiri was thirty-one now, soon to be thirty-two, and as much as the writer grumbled about it, his increasingly older body insisted on even more rest than the already large amount he needed when he was younger. While in his teens, he had discovered his body demanded more rest and sleep than many his age, much to the disgust of his family. In his early to mid-20's he could bounce back easily from the bodily abuse when he sat writing for days at a time. When the strain finally pulled him into unconsciousness, he would pass out for 24 to 48 hours, wherever he was sitting. He would wake up fully recuperated from those many days of neglect, ready to start another creative binge. He had started feeling more physical strain in his late 20's and had quickly realized each single all-nighter now equaled at least one full day of slumber for his body to recover. This was a frustrating turn of events for a man whose creative muses did not like being slaves to a progressively more fickle body.
A sleep-deprived Eiri was an ugly and vicious banshee creature to avoid by any means available. It had taken the two men years to work out a system so they could keep the peace in their home when Eiri was overly tired. Luckily, the writer would usually schedule writing marathons when Shu was on tour so the singer would not have to placate the malevolent and malicious inhuman brute.
The recent lack of sleep was not the only reason the novelist was growing more ill-tempered every day; he was being forced to work overly-long hours while his lover was currently in town. In this case, Shu agreed with him and backed him up wholeheartedly. Neither man was pleased with this exasperating fact but they really had no choice in the matter. This particular translation project making extra demands on the writer's time was a special case; his most recent novel had to be converted to English first so it could then be easily translated into Spanish, and the ridiculous deadline the sister publisher had set for the assignment was quickly approaching. Since Eiri could read and speak fluent English, he would know the integrity of his work would remain in the first translation if he did it himself. However, the writer's expertise was also the reason the work was cutting into their together time, which only compounded his irritation.
Shu was feeling particularly protective of his lover during this unforeseen project. He could tell the writer was under a considerable amount of strain because of this task. Eiri was gritting and grinding his teeth a lot more often, which would eventually help bring on his terrible migraines if he wasn't careful. The anxiety also fucked with the novelist's ulcer-ridden stomach. The blond was reluctantly taking medication again - at least temporarily - to help manage the stress and related ailments and Shuichi was aiding his lover by keeping track of his doses and the times taken. It was a responsibility he had volunteered for years ago and he was willing to step back into those shoes to ensure 'he-who-must-be-cranky' was keeping his pill-taking timetable.
The singer tried to pamper his life-mate as much as possible, without too much mothering or smothering, when they were together. Providing food and meds at regular intervals was one of the small ways he could help alleviate some of the novelist's pressures. Allowing the usually unpredictable but always sincere vocalist to take charge of certain aspects of Eiri's life had initially met with resistance. However, after witnessing his lover's continued diligence and joy for being able to take care of him, (and talking to his therapist about control issues), the blond had finally understood he would have more freedom to think creatively if he relinquished some responsibilities to his life-mate. Shuichi had felt lucky his partner trusted him enough to take care of him and that trust had eventually expanded to embrace even sex. That little reflection made Shu's groin jumped with glee – Eiri was especially delicious and wanton whenever he was on the bottom - and as he ambled down the hall with the food, he quickly imagined ice-laden underwear to calm himself down.
The bedroom was chilly, so Shu put the zen down on top of one of their dressers, walked back to the entry and fetched the heater. He placed it on the bedroom floor, started the unit, and then began preparing for lunch in bed. He retrieved the condom box from his pocket and dropped it among their assortment of sex toys in Eiri's bedside table's middle drawer. Then he cautiously crawled along the mattress to keep it from jostling, saved the open document, then unplugged the writer's laptop and carefully lifted it off the slumbering man's lap. Shu snickered to himself when he thought about all the different kinds of power cords now rigged throughout the house so they could plug in their laptops, cell phones and other electronic devices anywhere. For being such creative individuals, they were both techno geeks and had lots of gadgets. He gently placed the hibernating notebook on Eiri's nightstand and plugged it back in to keep the battery charged.
Before bringing the zen to the bed, Shu decided it was time to wake his lover, even though it was tempting to watch him another moment or two – his life partner was indescribably adorable when he slept and Shu treasured those moments. Eiri was scruffy today – unshaved and unkempt – and while Shu enjoyed the elegant, dashing way his lover would look most the time, this simple, more earthly look was the one Shu cherished the most – it was part of the real Eiri he had discovered under the layers of ice emperor glamour and had fallen in love with years ago. This disheveled man farted, barfed, cried and smiled and Shu loved every millimeter of him. Sighing contentedly, he carefully slid back onto the bed on his hands and knees and inched his way forward so he could easily touch his soul-mate.
He almost bounced on the mattress when he saw the black knit fingerless gloves on his lover's hands; Eiri really must have felt the cold to pull them on. Once again, Shu thanked his luck for purchasing fuel as soon as he could earlier that morning. The heater was already making the room's temperature much more tolerable so he knew he would eventually be able to strip away some of his lover's frayed layers and molest him. He pinched his nose momentarily to stave off the blood.
"I am home," Shu said quietly as he gently ran his right hand over the rough scraggly beard stubble scattered on Eiri's chin and cheeks.
The slumped figure began to stir sluggishly. "Bwahhh …huuuh? Tthuuu? Wha tha futh iths…uh?" mumbled the slowly waking blond, his words slurring through his still slack jaw. Shu reached up, yanked his lover's bite guard off his top incisors and stashed it in its little box. "Owwww…," whined Eiri, griping at the mouth pain he always felt whenever the guard was unclipped. He ran his tongue over his front teeth, pushed his glasses back on the bridge of his nose then quickly glanced at the bedside clock. "Why are you home so early?" he muttered, slowly blinking his sleepiness away while attempting to focus on his partner.
"Bad weather – most Tokyo businesses are shutting down for a few days. I bet your publishing company has closed, too, so you can stop pushing yourself so hard and just relax a bit." Shuichi rattled the bite guard box. "The translation is making you grit and grind even when you are awake now, huh?"
Shu took Eiri's low grunt as an affirmative as he put the box away in its drawer in the headboard. He brushed some golden strands out of the sleepy man's eyes and said, "I brought home lunch and more food for later so you do not have to leave your toasty barricade to cook. And I got more kerosene and other stuff." Shu gestured at the cycling heater then scrambled off the mattress and began a non-stop monologue about the ride home, all the people crowding the city and the severe weather attacking the city as he quickly changed his outer layers from damp jeans and sweater to thick and mismatched sweats and another layer of socks. When he was warmly and comfortably covered, he retrieved the zen and carried it to the bed, explaining where he had purchased the food before he ceased his oration and sat down on the edge of the mattress.
"Hmmph," muttered the semi-conscious writer, removing his glasses and rubbing his face with one hand to help him wake up more. "Welcome back," Eiri said belatedly as he discovered his dribbly chin and used his tattered sweatshirt sleeve to mop up the slobber. He adjusted pillows behind his back and shifted to a more comfortable sitting and eating position as he watched the younger man settle the zen's legs on the covers. "Looks good," he mumbled, greedily eyeing the feast placed close to him. His stomach growled loudly in agreement.
Shu heard Eiri's rumbling tummy and laughed. "Next time, do not skip breakfast and maybe the beast in your belly will mew instead of roaring like a bear," he said, still chuckling. With some sleep under the writer's belt, the younger man decided to check his lover's grouch meter. He reached over with one hand and patted the protesting belly while cooing little endearments. "The widdle tum-tum gets whiny when it expects to be fed but doesn't get yum-yums. And without first having a good cushy layer of num-nums inside you for them to bed down on, your evil drugs will tear your insides out and fuck with your ulcers."
"Shut up!" Eiri snarled and tried to slap him away but Shu's quick hand kept dodging the half-hearted swats, so not only did the author keep missing the giggling, pestering brat, he kept whacking his own stomach. When the zen's pottery started rattling, the writer ceased the battle to avoid dumping the hot food onto the bedclothes and he held the tray steady with his left hand. With his other hand, he roughly scrubbed one eye with a knuckle then rubbed his right temple with his fingers. "I should not have fallen asleep – too much work to do," he grumbled tiredly.
Shu quietly sighed in relief. The subtly less agitated tone told him how much quality sleep his partner had gotten that morning. He was not back to prime condition but he was more rested than he had been in the last few days. Now Shu needed to figure out a way to get his life mate back to sleep on this unexpected day off.
"Your body as well as your muse needs food and sleep to function up-to-speed, lover," he gently chided as he smiled at his surly partner. "Let us eat while it is still warm." He twisted his torso to lean back and give the sour face he loved so much a peck on the cheek while kicking off his slippers in the general direction of the footboard. He sat back up, swung his legs up, settled himself cross-legged on the mattress and pulled one of the loose blankets up over his shoulders. He grabbed the tray's corners closest to him and together they settled the zen more securely between them so the men could share the small feast easily.
Shuichi started removing the container lids, releasing the aromas and making his lover's stomach grouse again. At the scent of grilled chicken close by, Sena popped out of her lair and decided to join her parents for the meal. Eiri ran his hand along his daughter's black-striped furry back and tail as she stumbled over his lap and he could not help but chuckle as she clumsily scrambled toward her father dangling a chicken skin tidbit for her. As Shu hand-fed the morsel to her imperial fuzziness, he glanced over at his lover and caught the blond fingering the cigarette still resting in the ashtray.
Eiri raised his head to gaze at the vocalist and said, "The lunch date got cancelled because of the weather. I did not know where I was going to get my afternoon smoke." He quickly looked away, faked a loud yawn and idly scratched under his stubbly chin. Shu wasn't fooled.
Many people besides Shu handled Eiri's slow but steady cigarette weaning. While he was in town and able to be home, the vocalist took care of the breakfast, dinner and after sex smokes, while members in their trusted circle, like Eiri's editor, sister or brother, furnished the lunch cigarette. When he was gone on tour, the others took up the slack. He was glad he had remembered to purchase an extra fresh pack so he could also conduct the afternoon meal 'divvy-outs' while the miserable and treacherous weather conditions kept them house-bound. He also giggled gleefully inside; he heard Eiri's unspoken worry about not getting his fix and his implied appreciation for his partner's thoughtfulness. These small subtle implicit comments were worth more than gold to Shuichi; he knew Eiri loved him for the day-to-day gestures of affection as well as the heavy sweaty stuff.
Sena's insistent 'feed me now!' meow yanked Shu from his reflection and he pulled another piece of chicken skin off the skewer for her to gobble. Again, he glanced over to his life-mate and this time caught drowsy golden hazel eyes twinkling. His lover opened his mouth and pointed to it - a clear request to be fed, too. Shu grinned at his partner, then pinched a piece of chicken breast off a skewer, dipped it in the tare sauce, leaned over the zen and placed it in his lover's mouth. Eiri chewed slowly while keeping eye contact with his lover, his flashing amber speaking volumes of soft and loving sentiments he still had difficulty vocalizing at times, even after almost a decade together. Shu felt his heart clench and used a shy smile and sparkling eyes to pour all his love out and back to the man who had finally allowed himself to open up to the singer and thus, begin to heal. They were together, committed to each other and content - this was true luck.
Protected from the frigid and vicious weather, their little family enjoyed sharing a hot lunch and a satisfying after-meal nap - with a promise of lazy afternoon sex between the humans when they awoke - in a tranquil warm room with snuggly covers and pillows.
Domesticity never felt better.
Author Notes:
Japan was hit by record snowfall in December 2005 and January 2006. In some areas, the snow was over 13 feet in height. Houses were being crushed by the snow weight and people died from being squashed by their homes or from trying to clean the snow of their roofs and falling through the compromised structures to their deaths.
The Reuters article I referenced, which included photos, is no longer on their web site, however, this article is still available:
wwwDOTjapantimesDOTcoDOTjpSLASHcgi-binSLASHgetarticleDOTpl5?nn20060107a1DOThtm
Tokyo is not mentioned in the above article, this record snowfall was the inspiration for this story.
Kōhaku Uta Gassen, the Red and White Song Battle, is an annual New Years Eve live show and an institution in Japan's music scene. All the top music stars compete and it is an honour to be invited to perform. Two teams (female singers as the red team, male singers as the white team) battle not only with their singing performances but also with their costumes, make up, dancing and overall presentation.
wwwDOTinterculturaljapanDOTcomSLASHwordpressSLASH2006SLASH11/red-and-white-song-battle-selection-of-performers-for-2006SLASH
enDOTwikipediaDOTorgSLASHwiki/KC58DhakuUtaGassen
Okamoto is a real brand of condoms.
A zen is a footed tray used for serving food to an individual. It is relatively small compared to the more modern table used for the entire family.
Yakitori is traditionally grilled chicken on skewers. Nowdays, the term yakitori can refer to many kinds of meat and vegetable grilled combinations. The tare sauce is used both as a brush-on sauce while the meat and vegetables are being grilled and as a dipping sauce with the cooked kebabs. Yotsumi yakitori is grilled chicken breast, torikawa is grilled chicken skin and yasai yaki is skewered grilled vegetables.
enDOTwikipediaDOTorgSLASHwikiSLASHYakitori
wwwDOTmasterstech-homeDOTcomSLASHTheKitchenSLASHArticlesSLASHYakitoriArticleDOThtml
The Kirin beer site is in Japanese: wwwDOTkirinDOTcoDOTjpSLASH
You can read more about the various Japanese alcohols here:
wwwDOTjapan-zoneDOTcomSLASHcultureSLASHalcoholDOTshtml