So I had heard forever that Nagoya was a great place to go dancing, but I had never made it there before due to it being far away and due to not really knowing anyone who actually lived there. I had been there with Motoaki once before but he isn't really one for clubbing. I myself am getting a bit old for it but I can't help but still love dancing and as long as I put up defense, it is pretty easy to have a fun night and not worry about any creeps.
When people talk about Nagoya they usually mention ID Bar a 5 floor club that is famous for being a foreign hang out. This is a plus because, although there are some great dancers in Japan, Japanese people aren't really known for clubbing. I blame it partially on the fact that they don't have school dances or dance/cheer teams. ANYWAY so us girls from the country (Rena, Amy, and Chie) were excited to go to this club but, while planning our trip, we heard from Justin and Adam that it was a little seedy. The negative side of being popular with foreigners is that you get guys who aren't afraid to hit on foreign girls and you get people who aren't polite as the Japanese (a stereotype but in general Japanese clubs are quite subdued). This didn't bother us since we are used to that from clubs in America, New Zeland, Thailand, but to be nice to our hosts, we agreed to try a different club first.
The first night Justin started to take us to a place he liked but unfortunately, in true Justin style, couldn't remember the location of. Luckily in Japan it is easy to find "party neighborhoods" where you find row after row of restaurants, bars, and clubs (I feel sorry for anyone wandering around the Twin Cities or Des Moines, although I guess there are down areas- just not as compact). So we wandered the party area until we found something that seemed just as cool as the one Justin had been too before. Of course, being cheap gaijins we decided to ask first how much it cost to get in, how late the club stayed open, and how many drinks we got with the entry fee. Rena, who has the best Japanese, did the asking and then we had a quick pow-wow comparing it to ID Bar. Luckily for Justin, ID Bar closes at 1pm so this new place was a better deal. We decided to go in but when we went to the entrance, we were told by the body guard (who had answered our questions seconds before) "Japanese only."
Now, this hasn't really happened to me before (being denied entry due to my race), but I have read about it on blogs and tips on Japan. I was ok with that because "That's Japan," and it works both ways. There have been times that, BECAUSE I am foreign I have been given a cheaper ticket price or have gotten into places that I otherwise wouldn't have. Plus, seeing as it is a club and not a more public place like a bank or shop, I see no difference in them not letting me in and the clubs in New York and LA that only let in really hot or really famous people. However, I WAS pissed that the guy didn't just tell us in the first place when we asked about price and stuff. Sure Rena has flawless Japanese but the rest of us had been standing two feet away and it is EASY to tell that I am not-Japanese. way to waste my time!
By this time it was getting to be too late to go to ID Bar anyway (Justin said it closes early due to troubles with fighting in the past) so we decided to go to a club that stayed open until 6am. We got in there and it was empty but that was ok as it was nice to just sit and talk for awhile. Then after about 2 hours (when ID Bar and other similar places had closed down for the night) the place became packed with a good mix of Japanese and non-Japanese and we were all able to get up and get down (LOL). Actually, I was surprised at how polite the non-Japanese men were. No one tried to grab any of us or stepped on toes or pushed us to the side. We were allowed plenty of space to dance and be loud. It was a lot of fun and ended up with us all completely exhausted.
The second night we got ready early and decided to take the plunge and go to ID Bar. Justin, bless him, really didn't want to go but we dragged him. When we first got there it was wall to wall people and a lot of them were BIG (the guys and the girls). I'm sure it was very similar to anything I have been to in the US but after being in rural Japan so long, it seemed like I had entered a world of fat giants. Part of it could be some of the clothes the girls were wearing. I hate to generalize but there seemed to be a lot of latin Americans and a lot of Europeans who were not dressed for their size. AKA big bottoms in tiny skirts. But anyway... I was a bit nervous and thinking that maybe this was a mistake. Rena, an engineer, couldn't help but think about fire code violations. We squeezed our way to one floor but didn't like the music or the crowd. Same with the next floor. On the third floor we found music that seemed to our taste (Gaga, FloRida, etc) and, oddly so, a LOT of Japanese people. Despite all of our talk of wanting to "go where the foreigners go" we ended up having an absolute blast dancing with a bunch of Japanese. One Japanese pair of boys was especially fun. One of them came up to me and told me he was 20, and I felt a little old, but got over it. Even Justin was surprised at how good it all turned out. It was kind of nice that the club closed early as we got quite the work out and were pretty tired. We could go home feeling energetic not burnt out.
And I got to dance to my new favorite song. This song actually came out last summer but I haven't gone dancing. I was afraid that it wouldn't be played but it was and it was great. Actually, it may have been played twice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgM3r8xKfGE
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