Where am I?
Am I really in Japan? (Roppongi on a Friday night Sept. 26th, 2008)
To start, if there is one thing I 100% confirmed from this whole experience, it is that: No matter where in the world I go, I’m not a clubber. I hate it. I hate everything there is to it. That is all. There are a million other ways I could think of to better spend my time here on earth, other than getting into a room clearly over the legal capacity of occupants, paying 8 dollars for beers, having my ears completely destroyed, and dry humping the night away. I’ve never been fond of clubs, or the people attracted to them. At least it is off my check list now. All thats left is to talk briefly about my experience here.
For those of you who are familiar with the train system in Tokyo, you will know that trains don’t really run any later than midnight. For those who are also aware of the clubbing scene in Japan, you will know that most clubs don’t reach capacity until about midnight. Therein which lies the dilemma of how will one get home once they have had enough of getting their ears and wallets molested. The Japanese (and foreign) club going community have found possibly the BEST solution to this dilemma, one that is just thrilling to someone like myself. The solution is: WAIT FOR THE FIRST TRAIN IN THE MORNING! Yes, in other words… party all f***ing night, until the sun rises. The first train is probably 5:00 or 5:30am.
So here we go. 1 Canadian and 4 Germans. The plan is simple. Leave Soka at 9:30pm, arrive in Roppongi at 10:30pm, grab a bite to eat, a few coffees, and chill outside Roppongi Hills until it is time to “party.” The night before I think I got about 3 hours of sleep, and I was unable to snag a cat nap during the day, so you can imagine how tired I might have been. I think I downed about 4 canned coffees (Rainbow Mountain blend, Fire, Boss Black, Morning Shot). Before I even get to the club, I want to get to the most mind boggling part of my night, and the “culture shock” I mentioned that I experience from the last post.
As soon as we emerged from the station, there were foreigners, and nothing but foreigners. Now, I often second-guess my reasoning for being in Japan and make sure that it makes sense to myself, and that I have a fair amount of reason in my own mind to even be here. But I see these people who are hassling me, coming up to me and full-out speaking english to me as if it is the national language or something. These people don’t give a shit about Japan. I have no clue how they got here, how they are allowed to stay here, or who they think they are. Every 20-40 feet you see a black guy standing outside a shop trying to convince you to come in for one thing or another, usually girls or drinks. Being the height I am, I was hardly bothered. Nothing but a phrase or a word, and once they saw I wasn’t to be bothered that was it and I walked on by. But others in the group who didn’t carry themselves as well were literally followed for 200 meters, trying to be convinced into coming to bar. It really is quite irritating to witness, and if that isn’t enough, there are more than enough other races completely running a muck in the streets of Roppongi during the late hours of the night. And if THAT isn’t bad enough, there are a fair number of people WELL over the appropriate age to be out as late as they are. 30, 40, 50 year old men who still think they are 19 are really funny. Having your shirt unbuttoned down to your belly button might only work without the beer belly.
Moving on to the club (which I am definitely going to leave unnamed), it was no better than the streets. Japanese girls and foreign males everywhere. Maybe a few of the guys looked respectable and I could see them being students here or something like that. But so many of them, I just couldn’t help but wonder if there was anything more than the fact that they couldn’t get laid back in their home country that brought them to Japan. On the other side of things, the Japanese girls are just as bad as the foreign dudes, speaking nothing but english. You kind of understand everyones reasons for congregating there after some basic observations. It was really not Japan to me.
As far as my experience went. It was half decent for something I was completely expecting to suck. I’m not a dancer by any means, but it was still slightly enjoyable. I think I would have seriously passed out if I had been standing for the full 5 hours, so luckily for me I found a cute girl who actually didn’t want to speak english, and sat in the lounge area and had a nice chat for about 2 hours from 1:00am to 3:00am. I was actually really thankful that there was at least one other person that didn’t want to be there as much as me. She lived nearby, and headed out at 3:30am which left me with an hour and a half to kill. I went outside for a break, at this point my ears were already ringing like crazy. The music was unusually loud. I sat out there for about 30 minutes and just did my usual observing. The people and things I saw were just out of this world. I really had to ask myself if I was in Japan still, while sitting next to the falafel hut run by some brown guy. After about 30 minutes I headed back inside for 1 more hour of craziness and ridiculously loud music.
Train ride home for an hour, grab a snack at the 7 11, back to the apartment, dirty as hell, take a shower, crash at 7am. Wake up at 2:00pm. Done.
If you want to see Japan, my advice is stay the hell away from Roppongi, Shibuya, and pretty much anywhere in Tokyo. Okay… maybe that is being too harsh. Tokyo is a great place to be, especially if it is your first time going to Japan. There is just so much to do and see. So let me rephrase myself a little by saying: If you have come to Japan in order to study the Japanese language, stay the hell away from Tokyo.
Done. I promise my next post will have photos. And I also promise a YT video within the month.
October 3rd, 2008 at 2:22 am
Yes, the Pong does suck, the clubs are B-Grade at best, there are some good Japanese clubs if you go with a local though.
There’s plenty of other places around Shibuya, Kabukicho, Omotesando etc that are very different to what’s described above …. just got to find them i guess. Doesn’t help when you’re with a possie of 4 other gaijin though.
Agreed, you’ll get a quicker grasp of the language in some back blocks joint away from Tokyo …. but i’m sure those places have their downsides too ….. not a whole lot to do where i work 50k’s from Tokyo i know that much.
Dude, she lived close by and stayed till 3 …. i hope you’ve got a girlfriend you were thinking about and didn’t let that slip through your fingers. ;>)
October 3rd, 2008 at 9:42 am
i completely agree with you. i have been to a club in Roppongi. my american teachers performed at the club. it was nice. but on the way to the roppongi subway station i saw so many gaijin people standing on the street. they seemed doing nothing. they spoke to me and i was in hurry so i just said hello to them. i wonder how they got visa.
they speak japanese well. they are tall!! i understand why germany is good at soccer.
did u go to a big shopping mall in koshigawa lake town? i went there today. it was HUGE!! to get there from soka, take tobu isesaki line and change at shin-koshigaya sta. to musashino line and one stop.
what a surprise! yea it’s a very very small world!! fabian is funny and good looking! oh no i forgot the other german friends’ name… bad memory
October 3rd, 2008 at 6:14 pm
welcome to the real world my friend.
October 3rd, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Dude who brought u to this place? I expected you to go to some local clubs with 80% japanese girls that’s ready to get laid, not a club full of foreign panzies. Clubbing is fun when you go with the right people, the music’s good and most importantly, a lot of single girls. And Yes! expect your wallet to get raped.
October 4th, 2008 at 12:15 am
Yuck… But four coffees and an all nighter? Must have taken like 5 years off your life.
October 5th, 2008 at 1:41 am
Confirmed, confirmed and confirmed again.
Roppongi was a terrible experience for me. From being almost accosted by the so called welcome dudes to the chicks that want nothing more than to get into your wallet for drinks.
Did not like it at all.
I actually enjoy trying to talk Japanese - struggling through it - but this place is terrible; an assault on senses and dignity. Friends of mine already in Japan think highly of the place… I thoguht it was crap crap crap.
October 5th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
OMG! I didn’t know these things are going on Roppongi. I went there with locals and I only had a good time and didn’t see any of that stuff you mentioned. I’m so sorry for the bad experience you had.
October 6th, 2008 at 1:45 am
Haha. Being in my 30s, I guess I should have a sense of humor about being labeled as too old to stay out all night. But, in Japan, it’s not just foreigners in their “old age” that do this. I do agree that the older clubbers are pretty funny, though, if they’ve got the out-to-pick-up-tail look.
I don’t spend much time in Roppongi, but think it’s ok for a visit once in a while. I’ll tell you what, though, and this is not a slight… If you speak Japanese well enough that it’s clear to the gaijin bicycle types in Roppongi, Shibuya, etc…, they’ll often be shamed into using only Japanese with you. But, this is good since you can use it to measure how good your Japanese really is. However, those bicyle girls will usually quickly lose interest in you if you seem to be too into Japan. But, who gives a shit about those girls anyway, right?
October 9th, 2008 at 7:59 am
Neil: Roppongi is slightly disappointing because of how blatantly Japanese culture is disrespected not only by the foreign visitors, but by Japanese people themselves. I might give it another chance, but definitely (as you mentioned) with someone who really knows what they are doing. But I really believe clubbing is something that is imported, and not suited to Japanese customs at all. I find it to be a much more western form of entertainment, which is why no matter what/where you go, non-residents of Japan are sure to be present.
Tomomi: I also wonder how they managed to get (and keep) their visas. I think Fabian went to that Lake town mall or whatever it is called today. I haven’t been yet myself, but I’ll probably check it out soon. And yes, Fabian is quite funny and good looking haha… I will tell him you said so ;). You should come to the next party we have at Shimizu! =)
Qubeley: Either I’ve misunderstood your comment, or you’ve misunderstood my position on this post. It’s not like I was in any state of shock or disbelief with what I saw that night. Not only did I already know about it (as I’ve been to Roppongi before), but I knew exactly what I was getting myself into, hence my opening paragraph about hating clubs. Your comment makes it seem to me as though I’ve been sheltered from such experiences before, and never known of their existence. If that’s how narrow minded I really was (to not even think there was another foreigner besides myself in Japan), I doubt I would be where I am right now.
Rayz: Yeah, it was a foreigner cock fest for sure. There were lots of Japanese girls, but not the kind I’m interested in. Like I said in my response to Neil, I think clubbing is one of those things that no matter were you go you will find white/black guys. I’ll update if I find out otherwise though.
Andy: I actually got a really messed up ear infection or something of that sort the next day. Apparently the nose/ear doctor says it is an allergic reaction to the changing seasons over here that I’m breathing in through the nose and it is causing my ear canal to swell up. Make’s listening to people in loud places rather difficult. I hope it goes away soon.
Len: We have something in common then. I hope the rest of your trip works out for the better though, just stay away from Roppongi at night! During the day it is actually quite nice to walk around. Tokyo Tower is the bomb as well!
Abstrago: That’s okay, I expected to have a bad time =)
Billy: Ohisashiburi desu. Sorry I haven’t been checking your blog out! I’ve barely had time to update mine! I didn’t mean anything towards you with the 30+ comment! It is just my take on it. I was actually conversing the whole time in Japanese with the girl I sat down with, (although I don’t think I mentioned that I was). I really, really, really don’t have any interest in picking up girls in clubs though. But I know exactly what you mean. Thanks for reading!
October 16th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Hey, so this doesn’t really have anything to do with your blog, but I’m going to be going to Japan as an exchange student in two years, and I wanted to learn some Japanese before I go. Where can I go to do this?? I’ve been looking for tutors, but I can’t really find any.
October 18th, 2008 at 11:54 am
Well, being 39, I guess I’m not allowed to go to Roppongi anyway…
Interesting observations. I stayed in Tokyo for 3 days in 2004 for my JET orientation and still haven’t made it back. I do want to go back - just to do all the touristy sight seeing. And being from Southern California, I have a strange urge to see Tokyo Disneyland.
I’m gonna try to visit in January to also see live Sumo, but it’ll be damn cold.
Good to hear that school is going more or less well. I look forward to your next YT vid.
October 26th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
when u said u were hardly bothered because of your height. . .does that mean u r really tall? and hope your future experiences wont involve so much crazy clubbing.
peace, and im lookin forward to your next youtube vid 