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Saturday night was insane. went out to this bar in Utsunomiya called Ice Man. It wasn't in the "shady" part of town i wrote about before. This was in the downtown(?) part...i guess. Anyway. Ice Man was full of Americans getting their drink on. It could have been Columbus, Ohio, actually. 'Cept for the Japanese bartenders. Okay, so it wasn't all American people, but there were alot. I drank wine at a friend's place, (Chardonnay...Kanpai Traci-san! Thought about you!). The label, Evolucion. Perfect. Had me two glasses of those and we were on our way. (..."mackin' up brownies as we all cut em off at the pass"...sorry Lighter Shade of Brown moment...) Took a cab to Ice Man or tried to. Nuf and Michael kinda differed on their opinions of where this place was. We ended up kinda far, but finally made it. Walking. Okay the boys were walking, I...had some strut to my step. Nothing like a pair of boots to put some strut in your walk. Ii desu yo ne?

At Ice Man- I started shooting darts. These two white dudes, not sure where they were from, came in with Japanese lady friends and got in on my game. The guys let their girls shoot for them and it was on. I have to say, I shoot pretty good darts. Or at least, the Chardonnay told me so. I came in second ONLY because they cheated. I swear. I didn't hit the button after my first turn, so i missed those points. And the fuckers didn't tell me until afterward. I was giving props to one of the girls for shooting good and he was like, "you know...you'd be winning right now if you had tapped the button after your first round." I wanted to punch him. I can be competitive...believe it or not. (Hard to believe, I know!) These girls they were with were pretty interesting. One of them hugged me...A COUPLE TIMES. Like she wanted a little cuddle action, or something. It was interesting. I wondered why she would feel the urge and then just go ahead and hug up on me. I thought the Japanese were reserved! I guess not after a couple a drinks. And, from a theory I heard, maybe these women were paid to be friendly, if you know what I mean. I don't know how to feel about that. Why should we assume that? They were definitely friendly. Around my age. Gorgeous. Sexy. At least the one in the leopard print blouse. Yes, I said leopard print. She had that orange color hair, short bob. Totemo sexy desu ne? They were definitely not trashy. I wonder...

Anyway, i felt like drinking, so i go to the bar and ask for sake. What a lame ass, right? I mean, what else was I to drink? I didn't want beer. Wanted something Japanese. So, I asked...O-sake o onegaishimasu...The guy paused and then acted as if he didn't know what I was talking about. And then it hit me, maybe I'm not supposed to drink sake at a bar. I would've sipped it, but maybe he thought I'd take it like a shot. I thought to myself...Are you retarded Amerika-jin? Maybe I'm just like spitting on his culture, u know? He was beautiful though. He didn't make a look or make me feel stupid, just kinda pretended like he didn't understand. Then he says..."Tequira?" Fuck it. Hai! And I took a shot of tequira in Japan! I asked for salt and lime of course. If we're gonna do this, we're gonna do this right. Don't know what kind it was, didn't care. I just thought that whole interaction was hilarious and interesting. (I told my Japanese teacher today about my interaction. I asked her if he was trying to save me some embarassment. She doesn't think so. Her theory is that he assumed I didn't want Sake because not too many young people like it. It's more like an older man's drink. Also, Sake can be referring to Liquor in general. And so, he might have been wanting more clarificiation....I see, said the blind one. Funny, how I thought something else...It's becoming more and more clear to me how I choose to see a certain reality, that i'm a student and everyone and everything is trying to teach me something...Hmm.)

After Ice Man, we went to a club called Birdland. Why is it called Birdland? Have no clue. I would love to know how that one came about. (..."With the birds I share this lonely view"?) So we get there and that's when it starts getting fuzzy. :) I remember dancing, though. Oh and they played that Nina Sky song...Oye Mi Canto. I just about flipped. You know I had to dance! I was dancing and a little grossness ruined it. Heard dudes whispering, "sexy.." Yuk. No matter where in the world you be, right? Can't a fool just watch a sistah dance? I understand dancing can be erotic, but it's also just rhythmic. Clean. Connecting your mind, body and spirit to a beat....The collective soul of all those on the dance floor connecting...I know it can be sexual, but why must some pervert this connection? Don't know....gonna let that one marinate. Also, on the dance floor, I noticed something interesting. Lots of non-white, non-Nihon-jin (Japanese). What's up with this? Immigrant population in Japan! Interesting. Saw a bunch of non-white, non Nihon-jin at the immigration office--some guys speaking Spanish, an Indian family..Here though, don't remember exactly. Just remember brown skin. My japanese teacher told me that they might be Pakistani...Peruvian...Brazilian...told you...this is where it got kinda fuzzy.

So I take a breath have a seat on a space of a long couch that lined a wall. Some guy next to me started trying to talk to me. Not, like hitting on me, just striking up a friendly conversation. It was hilarious. He using his English, I using my very limited Japanese. I looked around and realized I didn't recognize anybody. The Americans were gone! HA. Exchange emails with Takuya-san and went to the bathroom. Went upstairs...nothing. Went downstairs...nothing. My ass got left. At a club. Buzzed. IN JAPAN! I don't care what part of the world you from, you don't leave ur homie at the club, am I right? Whatev...Decided this should be a great experience. How the hell do I get home? Figured I could get by. Good thing I had some money in my pocket. Went outside the club and caught a takushi (taxi), but not after witnessing some dude just pissing on the street. Yup, just having a whizz. Apparently, that's common here. People understand a man's urge to go and they go. Saw it again the other day. Some dude just handling it on some cement pillar on a major street. No women using bathroom on the street, though. Thank you ladies. According to a Japanese teacher in San Francisco, the Japanese assume guys are vulgar and will show bad manners and women strive to be classy and lady-like. Let that one marinate, too.

So I get a takushi and sit inside. I'm about to handle this when all of a sudden I see one of the people I went with. I was happy to see her, but disappointed in a way, I wanted to see if I could do this by myself. Everything happens for a reason, right? Regardless, I decided I would give the guy directions. "Sanko Haitsu o onegaishimasu (Sanko Heights please)." He wasn't familiar with the apartment building so..."Yamada Denki no chikaku desu." (It's near Yamada Electronics)...and I added.."Otani no tonari desu.." (Next to Otani, a grocery store). We got home. Mission Accomplished.

I want to go to Birdland again. Sans tequila and observe some more. Wanna see how they dance here. Wanna see the club attire. Wanna see the way guys pick up on girls. Wanna see what the locals drink. I can't wait to order this drink called Calpis sour. :) Calpis is my new favorite drink. It tastes a little like liquid Pinkberry. A little. I bought it once at a Japanese grocery store in California. In the U.S they changed the named to Calpico. Can you guess why?