My first enkai (Japanese party)

I had one of my many 'first speeches' last night at a 2 hour party on the floor of a restaurant. The mayor, public officials, board of education and principals of the 9 schools that I'll be working at, and of course Kate and I were there, sitting on the floor, in our socks, for 2 hours drinking and eating together (about 30 people). WHOA! I didn't realize it was such a big deal! The mayor spoke, then Kate and I made our speeches then there was a loud KAMPAI (toast) from everyone and THEN we could eat and drink. We couldn't touch anything until there was a kampai. At first, I asked my translator to explain all of the food to me. Chicken and jellyfish, cow internal organs and raw fish later, I asked her to please NOT tell me what the food was and I would just try what looked edible. It was actually... good. Ok, I didn't try the raw fish, but I tried pretty much everything else and it was actually really good, as long as I didn't think about what it was, I was fine.
If I thought about what I was eating, I would start to feel it coming up, so I concentrated on drinking sho-chu and trying to speak Japanese. The party was all mostly older men, of course, since women don't tend to hold positions of power, and these guys were toasted by the time our 2 hour party was up. Umm, yeah and I mean freaking TOASTED! So at the end of the party, we screamed banzai 3 times and raised our hands in the air each time. Apparently, this is an important gesture that officially signifies that end of a party and essentially means '3 cheers for ---'; but they REALLY do three cheers, literally. Then, in Japan there is always a second, less formal, party which is usually characterized by more drinking and possiby karaoke. This time, we went to a bar and drank and ate some more with about 8 old guys and 3 women. They tried to speak English and Kate and I tried to speak Japanese; we had fun!
I am probably glad that I didn't understand everything the guys were saying. But, this is still Japan and guys here DEFINITELY aren't as rude or pushy as some guys in the US can be.
ANYHOW, it was a blast and I wouldn't be surprised if some of them didn't make it home but instead fell asleep on the sidewalk, as I've seen a few businessmen littered on Japanese sidewalks around midnight. Then, they go home and get ready for just another workday by 6 or 7 am the next morning.