The best bar in Hikone

I’ve found possibly one of the coolest bars ever in Hikone. The place is called Yab’s, “Food & Sports Bar Guts Wrench” is the motto. The place is small, a long bar with about twelve stools and a few tables. One wall is covered by markers with messages from the previous patrons; many of the notes are in English. The reason is that Yab’s is one of the few bars we have found to be foreigner friendly. Some of my fellow students went to a local Reggae bar and were asked to leave. The staff at Yab’s are a colorful bunch who sprinkle English into our interactions. Such phrases as “pick your poison” and “pay me motherf***er” are the norm at Yab’s. The proprietor, Yabu, has a notebook of pick-up lines which he asked us to add to. Ours were clean compared to some of the crude entries, and Yabu admitted that he learns his English from the patrons. One of the bartenders, Patrick, is from Ottawa and helps us translate our slang into Japanese. The menu is half in English and on the cover is printed “Let’s get s**t-faced!” in bold colors. The TV plays a mixture of soccer, basketball and American music videos. The JCMU students have really taken to Yab’s as our bar, and I enjoy going there weekly.