This is a long overdue post. Back in September of 2020 I headed out to Niigata, Japan for a gem and mineral show and to meet up with some old friends 
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This was my third day in Niigata for the gem show. Everything was going good, I had really good sales, the local news stopped by and the day went by fast.
At the end of the show I texted
After returning to my hotel and getting cleaned up 
We had a few drinks the guys said they had to take me to a special izakaya, called Hanbey, and make me eat the oppai ice (boob ice). Sounded like fun so I said let's go!
(Hanbey 3rd Fl.)
So Hanbey is a Showa Era izakaya. Showa is considered Japan's golden era, kinda like America's 1950's. The war was over, economy was booming, everything was new and people were enjoying life. It was the era of movie stars, Astroboy and ice cream shaped like a boob. Believe it or not even my wife ate these when she was young and she loved them.
So we ducked into the elevator and went up to the third floor. As soon as the elevator doors open you are transported back to Showa. Architecture, movie posters, signs, even old black and white televisions playing Showa movies beckon you in.
The atmosphere is lively and noisy. Everyone is enjoying themselves. That's the kind of place Haneby is, fun.
We sat in the tatami area instead of the counter because it's much more comfortable. Who'd have thought sitting on the floor would be more pleasant than sitting on a hard chair?
The menu is a flashback too. Spam is on the menu! Lots of agemono(fired foods), french fires, cabbage, oden and these octopus looking sausages with accompanying Italian flag....
The octopus sausages make me laugh because they are the type of food moms pack in kids lunches these days.
Oden(boiled foods)
Our own TV, but it wasn't on for some reason...
Our tatami room with Japanese dude photo bombing.
And finally, the oppai ice. Strangely, I was the only one who ordered it.
Now, the thing about oppai ice is it comes in this rubber casing. One end is cut open and you suck on it.
As the ice cream becomes softer it reaches a point where it loses it's resistance to the rubber and all blasts out! So you have to keep sucking on it until that happens, otherwise ice cream will splatter all over the place.
In my case because I was warned and I love ice cream, I kept the oppai in my mouth until it burst out. We all had a laugh when it happened, but they told me stories of friend's ice who splattered all over the dinner because someone wasn't paying attention.
We had another round of beer and called it a night. The experience left me wanting to go back. When I looked Hanbey up on the internet I found out they have locations all over Tokyo too! So when I return to Japan there is a location 10 minutes from my house so I'll be taking my wife there and hopefully blogging about it again.
On my way back to the hotel I saw a huge commotion of police. Seems some salary man had partied a bit too hard, threw up all over the street and passed out. A common occurrence in Japan, but the police over respond a bit. That's what happens when your crime rate is super low.
That's it for now. Thanks for reading!
Here is a link to Hanbei: http://www.hanbey.com/info/
Here is a link to the gem shows we are a part of are hosted by Mineral Marche, http://www.mineralshow.net