Hot boys, alcohol and rats

A few years ago, my friends and I decided to find out what this whole host club business was about. For those of you outside Japan who've never heard of them, host clubs are where (supposedly) handsome young men pour your drinks, wipe the condensation from the glass for you, light your cigarettes, flatter you, and basically make you feel like a princess.

The clubs are quite popular with lonely women who have no boyfriends (or neglected housewives), and can be somewhat dangerous if you get in too deep with a host. If you go to these clubs, try to remember that the guys are in it for the paycheck. Never forget they aren't sincere, and they're just trying to part you from your money. If you can keep that in mind, you can have a fun time.

I'm of two minds about host clubs now, because one of my ex-boyfriends was a host in college. The routine, according to him, is to meet a girl the first time and get her number and email. He will then get in contact with her and say that he wants to see her outside work. It'll be all, "I don't want you to be a client! I want to date you as a man, not a host!" They will start dating, and all dates are actually paid for by the club. After a few weeks or more, the guy will ask the girl to start visiting the club to "keep him company." You have to pay to have a host sit with you, so this costs the girl a lot of money. She must also buy her own bottle of alcohol to keep in reserve, so for one night you could be looking at $400+. The hosts also drink alcohol from your bottle, so you need to buy new ones quite often, and they aren't cheap. This is another way to get a lot of money out of the patrons. After the girl has been visiting the club for a while, the boy will come up with a story like, "I'm so close to being number 1 this month and getting a big bonus, but I'm short by $500 bucks. If only one of my customers could buy that special bottle of brandy/champagne/whatever...." and the girl, so in love by this point, does it. Sounds horrible, right?

I can't really throw stones, though, because hostess bars do the same thing in reverse. Can I slam the men for scamming women when there are women out there doing the same thing? The only argument I have is that the clients of hostess bars are usually successful business men, not lonely housewives or part time workers. They usually have more money to spend than the women in host clubs do. 

My friend H had researched some clubs, and she picked one she thought another friend and I would like. We wanted the full on host experience. I wanted a club lit up like a UFO, the host haircuts on proud, mullet-like display, crazy suits, and expensive bottles of champagne set out in glass cabinets like expensive jewelry. On our way to the chosen club (Acqua, if you're interested), we had to walk up the main drag of Kabukicho that is riddled with about 50 host clubs. The club next to the one we had chosen had very aggressive hosts who tried to pull us in, but we had already made the choice to visit one specific club so we kept going. The front of the building is really amazing with a huge, lit up sign, and pictures of the most popular hosts. The downstairs entrance also seemed quite impressive with a sliding door and lots of lit up cases of expensive alcohol.

高円寺阿波踊り

This past Saturday and Sunday was one of the biggest festivals of the year: Koenji's Awaodori. It's estimated that about 10,000 people participate in groups called 連 (ren) and over a million people come to watch. This year the event was held from 5 to 7 p.m. (although it ran over and ended closer to 8:10), but some years it's held in the middle of the afternoon.

Dancers preparing to start the parade

What is Awaodori?

The dance originated in Tokushima prefecture, which is in Shikoku in the far south of Japan. It's approximately 400 years old and one of the three biggest summer dances, along with Nishimonai Bon-odori (西馬音内盆踊り) from Akita prefecture and Gujou Hachiman Bon-odori (郡上八幡盆踊り) from Gifu prefecture. Bon-odori is a kind of festival dance done in summer. You often see it at various events in Japan. The Awa odori is somewhat unusual in its dance moves. It is believed to have derived from Noh theatre.

The groups of dancers are accompanied by taiko drums, shinobue flutes, shamisen, and bells. There are two types of dances: those for women and those for men. The women wear a type of dance kimono, which is very tight with distinctive hats. They dance on the tips of their geta sandals with their hands in the air. The men wear happi coats or short yukata (summer kimono), shorts, and a type of tabi sock with a thick sole. Their dance is crouched down and often performed with a fan, lantern, or uchiwa (the round fans that don't fold). Women may also perform the men's style of dance, but men do not dance the women's style.

Sounds a bit boring, but the groups don't just dance in place. The drums get rocking and the men's groups start going crazy. There was running, big jumps in the air, insane freestyle moves, etc. This event is totally worth seeing!

Here are some examples of the women and men's costumes:

Young girl wearing the traditional hat, called 鳥追笠 (torioigasa) or 編み笠 (amikasa), which is a type of sloped hat made from grass. It is sewn together and often has a lovely contrasting colour border and strap.

Pariya Aoyama

For about a month now, my friends and I have been planning to hit up Pariya in Aoyama. This restaurant is rather well known for it's homemade gelato flavors and cupcakes. They also have a cafeteria style area with salads and pasta dishes. We went for the desserts.

Pariya is a nice little restaurant located between Omote-sando and Shibuya. It's closer to Omote-sando, so I recommend getting out the B2 exit there. Walk down the street until you pass the really big Kinokuniya and turn right immediately past that building. Go straight and turn left at the next street. Pariya will be the restaurant on the left-hand corner. It has glass windows all down the front, so it's easy to spot.

From what I understand, Pariya mixes up their flavors of cupcakes and gelato every so often. When we went, the flavors were mostly fruits, with a few standards thrown in. I didn't think to list all the flavors, but the gelato flavors I remember are milk chocolate, fresh milk, salt milk, melon, orange, kiwi, lemon, tomato (not a typo!), and coconut and honey. There weren't that many cupcakes available the day we went, but we got about 5 of them to split between the three of us. We ordered Mandarin Orange, Raspberry Chocolate, Plain Buttercram, Carrot Cheesecake and Pistachio Chocolate.

Here we have our three (or in my case, four) gelatos. From the left are coconut-honey, milk chocolate and fresh milk, and melon. You can also see two of the cupcakes in the back. The gelato are melting because instead of just putting all our cupcakes on one tray, the guy had to put them each on their own plate with a separate napkin and fork. Nice, but hardly needed with just three of us!

NY Food Fair

Okay, if you have time in the next two days, get yourselves down to Ikebukuro's Seibu (7th floor) asap and check our the NY Style Fair that's going on now! It finishes at 5 p.m. on Wednesday (Tuesday it's open until 9), so get over there quick!

I heard about this fair through a co-worker who's stationed at our Ikebukuro office. She has a predilection for red velvet cupcakes, so when she saw them at the fair, she sent me a text to tell me I'd better get my butt down there. I'm so glad I did!

I actually went twice. lol Once on Saturday night, where I just bought stuff I wanted to take home, and then again on Sunday to have lunch with GEG. Mochi will show you what you could be missing if you don't go.

Christmas Is On The Way!

Just a few pictures of illuminations around Tokyo for you today. No major ones, I'm afraid, but I'm planning to go shoot some pictures in the next two weeks of some bigger ones.

Sadly, some of the largest and most beautiful light displays in Tokyo will not be held this year. Both Takashimaya Times Square and Ebisu (both famous for Christmas lights) have decided not to do them. I didn't find out why, but I assume it's either because of the earthquake, power saving or money issues. Too bad. Those were two I always look forward to.

Times Square may be out of the running, lights wise, but the Southern Terrace still has some lights on display. I shot this one the other day.

The theme seems to be Tanabata and...penguins. Perfect fit. Um, yes. There's also this lighted up archway near Krispy Kreme where you and your significant other can embarass yourselves in front of strangers by holding hands under the arch and touching these two sensors (one on each side of the couple). If you're meant to be together and get married, it starts to glow white or pink and you hear wedding bells. If you aren't, well a red light shines and you hear "wahh wahh wahhhhhh" music. Romantic, innit?

I'm Not Cool

This was originally posted on Tokyo Night's Typepad account. I was unable to import my whole blog, so periodically I will add old posts here as "filler" for when I"m busy. This post first appeared on June 9th, 2009.

I'm not cool.

I know this. Whenever I try to act cool, I fall on my face, or get too excited when talking and spit on myself (or the unfortunate person standing near me). I gesture with my hands when I talk, and send glasses of wine flying into the laps of my table companions, or even into their handbags!

Yes, I'm not cool.

Usually I'm fine with that. Who needs to be cool? I'd rather be intelligent, or funny, or any other admirable characteristic.

But I wish to GOD I had been cool on Saturday.

I was out with my friend E at a great vegetarian place in Azabu called Eat More Greens, dipping into the fantastic hummus, when I saw this tall man walking with another man and a woman. They were coming closer to our table and I noticed he looked familiar to me.

Who was it?

Could it be?

OH NO!

It was Matsuda Shota. The gorgeous Matsuda Shota I'm always raving about. The reason I put up with a whole season of Jotei (crap hostess drama) on Television just so I could watch him in it. Matsuda Shota walking by when I'm shoveling my face full of hummus like a greedy pig.

What would a cool person do?

I have no idea, because I was so excited to tell E what I was seeing that I choked on my hummus and made a right spectacle of myself.

I'm not cool.

2011 Tokyo Ramen Show

It was a gray, rainy, miserable day, but people still lined up around the block to get into the Tokyo Ramen Show. The ramen otaku were out in full force with their impressive cameras, polished ramen spoons hanging from a chain around their necks, their "No Ramen, No Life" t-shirts straining over their large bellies... It was a sight to move the soul and bring one to tears.

Behold the hordes of ramen faithful: