Most cities in Japan have their own obligatory foreigner bar or restaurant. It is usually a place that serves foreign food, and because of this fact alone, draws a foreign crowd hungry for the taste of home. A bar or restaurant that happily welcomes expats and locals alike, and offers the unique chance for a natural exchange of languages and cultures, a place that greets return customers with their favorite drink, ready and waiting for them on the bar. In Morioka, this place is called Sundance, and it is a second home for many of the expats living and working in Morioka. Sundance has, over the years, taken on a strange and counterintuitive combination of Mexican and Irish culture, offering various food dishes from both cultures. On the menu you can find items such as fish and chips, steak and potatoes, quesadillas, nachos, and taco rice, as well as a nice selection of import beer. [caption id="attachment_12169" align="aligncenter" width="500"] It is also one of the few places to serve Guinness, adorned with a beer foam clover, on St. Patricks Day.[/caption] Sundance is one of those bars that never gets boring. Walking in through any of the three doors, you can immediately understand why. The rooms are decorated with a collage of items, from chalkboard calligraphy, to day of the dead sculptures, hand drawn artwork, and half naked women advertising beer. You can find goofy hats and colorful glasses waiting for an especially outgoing customer to throw them on for a photo shoot. The freezer door has disappeared behind beer bottle caps, and the women's bathroom hosts an especially pleasing Red Hot Chili Pepper's poster. The first floor is usually crowded with weekday customers, Japanese and foreign alike. But there is often room in one of the corner nooks, offering a small amount of privacy from the main room. In the winter time, the owner and wait staff will offer you an aztec patterned throw to cover your legs, although it's rarely cold inside Sundance. If you are lucky, and manage to come on a Thursday night, you will have the chance to see Ryuta, a Morioka based musician, and Kikuchi, one of Sundance's own staff, perform a collection of Ryuta's own music as well as song covers. This is by far my favorite time to come to Sundance, Ryuta has a otherworldly voice, and his ability to intermingle Japanese and English lyrics with lilting riffs makes for a unique and beautiful combination. If you really enjoy his music, be sure to support the two of them by either buying the new album, 2,000 yen. Or giving a donation to the jar they will surely pass around while singing the "Nama Beer" song. The second floor is often reserved for large parties, but when it is not, this is the most popular place for expats to hang out because it is much more open, the perfect space for mingling, and it also offers games. While it's not very Japanese in appearance or atmosphere, Sundance is definitely a place worth stopping by. Especially if you are interested in meeting the locals, because the customers at Sundance are always happy to meet new people, and have a chance to learn about a new culture. [cft format=0]

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