I'm walking around some shops, houses and bars in a poor-looking neighborhood. In fact, it was kinda mixed - some places seemed richer, right next to downright poor ones. Me and friends (or should I say allies?) wanted to infiltrate a group here and gather information. They were dangerous and controlled pretty much all of this area. Still, we had a plan - there was this Japanese girl who was part of their group, and to who I had already been introduced. We were in good terms, and had already flirted a little. She would be our ticket in - or at least it was the plan, as I seemed to be developing feelings for her.

I'm walking outside, eating and socializing. I stop by a wall where cars are entering a parking lot. B. (F.), from work, approaches and greets me. It turns out he was working at the parking lot. He seemed happy, so we just made small talk and walked away before anyone suspected anything (plus, I didn't know what side he was on). I walk into a bar, where several young Japanese men are (Yakuza, perhaps?). I knew they were part of the group/gang. They look at me for a second, but seeing no harm, turn back to whatever they were doing. I had safe pass. Great.

I walk up to a table where the girl sat alone. She had a book and seemed to be studying. I greet her, take a seat and ask her about her studies. She smiles and tells me all about a test she had to do. In fact, seconds later, people start taking chairs and tables out of the bar and setting up what looked like a classroom. A teacher approaches and asks me to leave... unless I was her companion for the test. I was confused, but he explained briefly that each test taker was entitled to one companion, usually his/her mother or aunt, or another near relative. Since the girl had none here, he allowed me to be her companion. The test would be some kind of competition against another girl, who was sitting across the room with her aunt, an evil, angry looking Asian woman.

I agreed to help and the first test started. The contestants were given sheets of paper with instructions. I didn't know what to do, so I stood around and looked for danger. There seemed to be none, so I turned back to the paper and realized the girl had to create a "Funny joke". I couldn't remember any, and neither could she, but  I couldn't concentrate for long - soon appeared what I was supposed to help her with. It was a humongous Golden Retriever dog. It was fat, so fat a carpet was laid on its back, and it would walk around fast. The dog apparently was there to annoy and distract the contestants, as it kept bumping on things and on people. I pushed it away and kept it at bay, but it was no good - soon the time for this part of the test was over and we didn't have a good joke.

We changed tables on the room for the second test. The girl sat across from me and as soon as it started we opened a Tupperware to find colorful pink and green swirls of a white, doughy and powdery food, along with dark purple and green beans. I ask her what it was, and she defined them as "Gohan" ("Rice", in Japanese, also used as a generic word for food or a meal), or an equally common food-related word in Japanese. We were meant to mash together the beans and the dough, resulting in round white balls of what seemed to be Mochi. Surprisingly, it was really hard to do, but we kept on doing it. This time another huge animal showed up. It wasn't the same dog, but I don't remember what it was - again, it had a black carpet laid on its back. This time, though, it didn't bother us. It walked past us sometimes, but it kept on bugging the other contestant and her aunt, buying us precious time which led us to victory on this test.

The dream changed after this, but the recall's pretty vague. I was part of the cast of the How I Met Your Mother TV show, and I was one of the main characters too, even showing up on the opening (interestingly, in the last picture that appears on the opening, when they all show up together, I was there too, on the far right). Still, I was worried because I thought my role was turning out to be too secondary.