Sushi, Cabernet and Camembert

So, one of the Korean guys I live with is obsessed with France.  To him, all this means is that he enjoys drinking wine, eating baguettes with Camembert cheese and he thinks French women are beautiful.  He seems to think that this is a completely reasonable summary of French culture.  He's slowly teaching himself French in hopes that he will someday be able to go to France and, as he jokingly puts it, search for a fiancée.  I don't think he's joking.  He's very curious about the French couple who are living in the room on our floor, and he took great pains to plan a dinner for all of us to get together that (he thought) would combine the best culinary styles of Japan and France.

The carefully planned a menu a highly rated bottle of Cabernet, a highly rated bottle of Chablis, Korean instant powdered cream soup (no idea what this is made of), caesar salad, and baguettes with three types of French cheese, and an enormous platter of sushi and sashimi (think salmon eggs, sea urchin eggs, raw fish, the works).  It was probably the weirdest meal I've ever had in Japan (way weirder than beef sushi) and in case there is a doubt in anyone's mind, I can confidently say that deep red wines, sushi and blue cheese do not suit each other.

The carefully planned guest list consisted of two French people, one Japanese person, two Korean people and one American.  We were constantly pantomiming and struggling to communicate and I was reminded of what it was like for the international boarding students of the high school I attended.