Night of Clubbing in Tokyo

So firstly last night. Good lord. So after our first mid-term which was chill, lunch and a little respite, the group of us Gaijin as well as our RA's here at the Kenshukan headed out to crash the Tokyo University's International party. Us being foreigners ourselves we felt it was acceptable. Not to mention we knew one of the students who said there wouldn't be a problem. The Party was held at a club in Roppongi Hills which is a very fashionable, “uptown” part of Tokyo, the name of the club I cant recall. There are also great deal of foreigners, which was strange and rather uncomfortable. But anyway, among a cacophony of cat calls trying to sell things, we entered some unmarked building and proceeded to the sixth floor to where the club was. The elevator door opened up to a reception desk with a woman who asked us our purpose. After pulling a “baka gaijin (stupid foreigner) we enter as past of the international party, paying a mere 1000 円, about ten dollars US.

The club doors opened to dark, smokey, neon lit room music pounding. Some Vip rooms could be seen, and a small bar in the corner, everywhere a variety of people appearing to have a good time. Things seemed rather like any other club and I for a second forgot where I was and what was actually going on. This was soon corrected however as the utter rediculesness of the situation surfaced more and more. For one the music was rather outrageous. The DJ booth even had two big flat screens which, when I walked in were just playing just the video stream of Macklemore's Thrift shop, but later played the music video to the actual song playing. To give you an idea, I believe the third song I heard was I just had sex by the lonely island boys music video and all. And the people dancing made it even better. Not only did they absolutely love every song, the type of excitement you would expect from puppies, but the way the majority of the people were dancing was just precious. Now no criticism on the way Japanese people dance, like in clubs and such I mean (so western dancing I guess), but it is no secret that it is rather weird ha (in a great way). In some cases it could be described as a moving wall, however I think I would prefer to describe it as the result of there just being too much joy in one body that simply doesn't know what to do with it. And as all this joy tries to get out it results is often a rather awkward series of movements with out the slightest bit of insecurity. You couldn't find any purer joy from a sober baby with a lolipop. And as the icing on the cake, the DJ looked as if he had to be at least 75. Calmly, contently DJ's, without the slightest form of body language that music is being played. Either he was just too old to even hear the music, or he learned to DJ from a headsman, for I have never seen such a straight face and monotone movements among people having so much fun.


So I went to the bar to get myself a drink, only to be reminded by a friend that this was a 飲み放題（nomihoudai), which to translate rather literally means to drink as much as one likes. So my 1000円 (ten dollars remember) had not only gotten me into this completely rad club full of international students and up-class Japanese of all shapes and sizes, but it had also bought me all I can drink. Is this my life right now, really? I was amazed. So much so that I even took notes because I simply didn't want to forget this ever.

Me taking notes in the Club.

The amount of happiness I felt soon matched those of my Japanese friends and I proceeded to express it in the only way I knew how: by going buck wild, dancing like a maniac, and spreading joy like a dog with not 1, not 2, but 3 balls—a wild, dancing, joy-spreading, love hound if you will. “Too much fun,” --just doesn't cut it and even “three much fun” only begins to do it justice. Dont know the time when we left the first club, but it was this particular club's closing time so we found our way to another. And let me remind you that this isn't because we are animals, like true hedonists trying to sway a ascetic we'd convinced to tag along, but more so because the last train had left, next one wasn't till 530am or so. So we stay up, danced, lived and had a great time.


It was more fun than I could have ever asked for, however as a cap on this story, once the first train time rolled around and we decided to return home I got the genius idea to return alone. I simply told them to go ahead that I would be there soon. Now please don't think I was too gone, the train ride was rather simple and I was fully capable. You see things are always done in groups in Japan and being as the night had been so grand I simply wanted some time alone to really savor the last of it. And this went all well enough—that is—till I fell asleep. I woke so a beautiful morning sun rising over mountains and rice fields, everything green, and everything peaceful out the window of the busy morning train. It made me smile, and I honestly really enjoyed it, however in a blink of actual thought I realized.--Wait----where is Tokyo? No tall buildings anywhere, no busy intersections, just peaceful little congestion of people, markets, and houses. I'm not sure the actual time as I did not check however judging by when everyone else got back home and when I did, it would seem that I had ridden the train a bit over an hour, Way past my proper destination, to about 3 stops before the end of the line. However I knew this wasn't a problem, how the trains are set up I knew if I just went back it would not cost me anything, but time. So I exited the train and got on the other heading back in right direction, and all was well. That is ….until I fell asleep again. Haha. This time wasn't as bad however I again missed my station by about 5 stops or so and had to return again, this time forcing myself to stand. I honestly didn't even really feel tired, there is just something about sitting on a morning train that rocks you to sleep. I got in at about 8:45am, smiled at the day and klunked out till about two that day. What a time.