For me, the bonenkai season has always meant one too many parties in the local restaurants, gathering together people from the volleyball team, the town office, the school I worked for, and so on. But even though I dreaded the financial hit this season would bring to the pocketbook (multiply 5000 yen x 4 parties and you have an idea of what a bummer December can be!) I always liked the camaraderie of these smaller parties, often with only about 10-15 people there, many times fewer than that ...
However, I went to my company's bonenkai and was astounded to find that -- wow, they had commandered a whole ballroom and filled it with people and food. Day to day I see maybe no more than 50 employees, all in my department; but there, assembled, were maybe upwards of 400 or 500 employees, maybe even more. Of course none whose names I knew. This being the financial industry, there were a lot of foreigners there, working in departments far different from my own ....
But wonderful food: off to one side of the ballroom was a buffet service and, for a limited time, sushi and tempura on command. (Freshly fried tempura is SO good; the sushi chef was too surly for my liking. "Sorry, guy, take the three pieces you got and be happy. I don't take requests." How to be content with shrimp, ika (squid), and low-grade maguro, the three cheapest ingredients there?)
In the middle of the buffet area was about nine different Chinese dishes, all of which looked good, but which I took none of. Me, I'm a sashimi fan, and I made for the far end of the buffet, where they had white fish sashimi in a salad marine, and fantastic raw scallops (tender and also marinated). I skipped on the desserts but made sure to get my share of veggies, taking salads, and other vegetables decorating the edges of the plates. Some people insisted on the roast beef, but since I was with my semi-vegetarian co-worker, I abstained -- but then again, after so many years in Japan I find that I don't miss steaks and roast beef that much.
At the open bar they had a selection of really good rice sake, satsuma imo sweet potato shochu (vodka), and the highlight of the evening, a 17-year Nikka whiskey. My other boss and I took seconds of that Nikka; so odd it was to see it there that I looked for it over the weekend, without any luck. Perhaps it's only sold in department stores? Who knows?
We were lucky to have door prizes, too, although I didn't win the prize that they offered last year: round trip tickets to the UK. I got a coupon for four 1kg bags of rice; others got gift certificates for online shopping (none of which interested them).
It was just nice to have an evening of free food and entertainment. Nice to have an organization that takes care of you .... sometimes, in a big way.
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