7

last night, Tuesday, we were out late. let me tell you, i found the shady part of town. i mentioned to nuf, "i'm the only one of my kind out here." there were no women walking the streets. all you saw was men in business suits, drunk or about to be. It's crazy. I saw three types of men. You got your "salary" man. Dressed in a suit. They're everywhere. Especially in this part of town. #2 You got your "thugs," I guess. Still havent' figured out their brand. But they kind of got that urban street vibe. Complete with bling on chains, baseball caps. #3 David Bowies. Yup, David Bowies. You got these dudes that dress like they're Japanese David Bowies. Like, back in the Labyrinth days. They're hair cut all emo and teased up. Some even have piercings. Their suits are cut real close to the body, their pants made skinny. So you got your business dudes, your thugs, and your David Bowies. All in this section of Utsunomiya. I saw two girls. Looked like they were hustlin'. I didn't make eye contact. I wanted to. I didn't want them to think i was judging them, tho. One was in this skirt suit. Ivory with black piping. Mmmm hmmm. Low cut, well by Japanese standards at least. Low enough to show her butterfly tattoo on her chest. Right in the middle, on her sternum. A butterfly in black ink. Wonder what she's up to? I wonder what they thought of me walking the streets with nuf and andy. I had on a pea coat, jeans and some sneakers. hands in pockets the whole time. My hair in a pony tail, big silver hoops. i wonder what they saw when they saw me. obviously not japanese. nuf, andy and i walked independently, i wonder what they thought i was doing out with these two dudes. there were so many bars/restaurants, yet you had like 50 men at this intersection. And 3 women. One was me. We walked around, nuf trying to find an un-shady place to sit and eat. we walked up the street a little, some man asked nuf if he was looking to get drunk, in japanese. he ignored him, we walked back down the street. i felt the hee bee jee bees. a shiver went down my spine. i don't know why. did i feel unsafe for the first time in Japan? Did i shiver to think that these men had wives and families and they were out, toiling the streets. Made no eye contact with men either. Didn't want attention, but I couldn't blend in.

We finally got into a place. Pretty seedy. Food was pretty bad, actually. Not the kind of place you envision in Japan. Think Tijuana. Cleaner, though. It just felt obnoxious. Like they cater to the obnoxious. those that do not care to see and feel and experience the real japan, yet outside its doors is real japan, right? those men, those girls, on a TUESDAY night, being shady. never expected that. not so explicitly anyway.

so there's this place called Super Girls. I'm told it's like a strip joint? maybe. not sure how that goes down over here. anyways. they don't let foreigners in. An american white guy tried to get in and they told him, "Japanese only." Isn't that interesting? I wonder why. Too disrespectful to the girls? Are they being protective? Right... Patriarchy. These are our women to exploit.