My First All Nighter

So after a long, long, long week and a half with the visiting delegation from Oklahoma and the totally adorable Halloween party for the children of Kameoka, I decided to celebrate the fact that I would once again have time outside of work. The last 9 days had been full of prepping for the next days activities, so having an evening off was welcomed.

I have been feeling old lately...which is sad because I am only 22. But work stress, etc. had been making me sleep earlier and go out less. My college days seemed long behind me. So when Laurel mentioned going out dancing, I was interested.

Laurel and I were the only ones available to go out so the two of us decided to take on Sam and Daves (or should I say Samu and Dabuzu), which is a night club run by an ex-pat from South Africa. We left Kameoka for Kyoto embarassingly early (8:30 pm) and arrived at Sam and Daves shortly before 9:30. When we got there we found out it was actually the 2nd night of a two day Halloween party...and also that we were horribly early. The only other patrons were an old couple of women and 2 Japanese guys sleeping.....I guess in preparation for their night out. Well, being accustomed as we are to being stared at EVERYWHERE we go, we decided not to make a big deal out of it and grab a couple of drinks while we waiting for things to pick up.

Now, in Japan, for some crazy reason, the trains stop at around midnight. So for us to catch our train home and avoid a $70 cab ride, we would have to leave the club around 11:30. Well, 11:30 was when people actually started showing up. I was skeptical about the idea of an all-nighter, but Laurel helped me convince myself to stay out.

It started to get crowded with Japanese men and women doing their awkward bobbing kind of dancing so Laurel and I decided to be the gaijin women that we are and start up the dancing in the middle of the floor. Now, those who have seen me dance can attest to the fact that, while I am not completely devoid of rhythm, I am not a spectacular dancer. Laurel, is not only a good dancer, but she knows how to have fun with it. So when a great 80s song came on the two of us totally broke out the cabbage patch and the running man. Now, back home in the states, we would have been met with disdain or outright laughter...but not in Japan. No, in Japan, the cabbage patch and the running man warrants cheering and for everyone around you to stop and watch. It was kind of amazing.

So the night went on with us enjoying ourselves on the dance floor until about 4 am when I had to call it quits and we thought about heading to McDonald's for some late night/early morning food...btw McDonald's is somehow acceptable food in Japan while I rarely eat it at home.

As we were getting our coats (the Japanese brilliantly put lockers in their clubs) I accidently eavesdropped on a Japanese guy getting yelled at by security not to sit down. I giggled to myself and he noticed and started talking to me. It was the usual "You are byuuutifaru garu. byuutifaru garu." and my personal favorite " oh you look like Tom Cruise" but this guy, when I pulled out my, now perfected, mock insulted look, changed it to Sandra Bullock, who he apparently loves. We chatted for a while about the upcoming election, and about what Laurel and I are doing in Japan etc. Finally when we said we were leaving to get food they said they would come too and they showed us a great ramen shop down the street from the club.

Here is where it gets interesting from a sociology perspective. Now, back in the states whenever I went clubbing it was always a bit of an ordeal trying to avoid the advances to drunk men. When my old Millbrook roomies and I would go out, we would constantly have to circle up and save each other from unwanted advances. I had a guy pull my hair away from my neck and lick me one time. I mean, on what planet is that acceptable? In Japan, however, foreign women seem to scare Japanese men. The guy from Sam and Daves, Ryuuichi (or dragon one as he translated his name for us), took us to ramen and refused to let us pay. Then took us to the Kamo river and bought us some hot coffee. All the while telling us we were beautiful girls (the only high school english he seemed to remember). I enjoy any time when I meet Japanese people outside of work who don't want to use me for my English skills so I was interested in hanging out with him and his friend. And let's face it, with another hour to go before the trains started up, we had nowhere else to go. So at the end of the night we went to the station and said our goodbyes, but that was it. I guess I was just struck by how different it was. Maybe it sounds like I'm complaining but I am just used to having to find a way out of giving out my number or avoiding awkward come ons. It was actually really fun to be able to go out and dance all night and make a new friend without it being uncomfortable. Hooray for Japanese men being timid.....

Around 5 am we made our way to our train station and boarded the train home. Luckily the final stop of the train we got was our own Kameoka so we just fell asleep on the way back. We had to be up early to meet our friend Rie for lunch in Kyoto city the next day so we caught a quick nap and then made our way back into town to meet up with her. She took us to a place that is almost exactly like the Kansas City Power and Light District. Almost made me miss home.