The little bar was literally right next to the station, gotta love the trains in Japan!
The entrance fee was 2000 yen but you can get a "free" drink as well, so I got a beer and soon after the dancing started. The girls wore traditional Spanish dresses and had the clapping thingies in their hands and simultaneously tap danced while a man played acoustic guitar and another guy sang in Spanish. The audience was yelling "yaaaahiii" and all these words in Spanish. I was somewhat culture shocked seeing Japanese acting like Spaniards.
Another thing I noticed was that I was the only foreigner there and somehow that made me feel proud. The guy in front of me who videotaped the whole show asked me in Japanese where I was from and if I was a Spaniard, to which I replied that I was from America and spoke zero Spanish, only Japanese and English.
After we got out we went to a museum in Ochanomizu with my friend's two friends. There was a torture exhibit with iron maidens (iron maaaiden! excellent!! -bill and ted) and a guillotine.
We went to a shrine near Akihabara and I prayed to some god of business to improve my Japanese. On the toori (wooden Shinto gate) there was a sign displaying how to enter properly. You have to do a figure-eight around the posts in some overly complicated fashion.
Then we went to a maid cafe in Akihabara, it was my first time. There was a band playing near the maid cafe, a Japanese punk band I guess. There were tons of Otakus (Japanese geeks) clapping along. I wanted to head bang but I felt out of place already.
After quite a long wait we finally got to go into the maid cafe. Upon entering the maids say "okaerinasai goshujin sama" which means "Welcome back, master!".
I ordered tea which doesn't come with any special incantation, but if you order a special drink like a cocktail or something that requires stirring, the maid will say a rhyme and everyone has to repeat after her. "Moe Moe...Nyan Nyan..." It is basically gibberish meant to be cute. I got my picture taken with the maid we talked to.
We went to a Spanish restaurant afterward that was expensive but delicious. I didn't know what language to speak because my Japanese friends were speaking a mix of Spanish and Japanese and I'm not very good at either one.
All that adventuring made me pretty tired. The girl acting as our tour guide was also power walking everywhere to boot. The last activity was watching Christmas lights near Tokyo Dome. I want to go back there to ride the Ferris wheel and roller coaster.
Pictures (click for full view):
1 comment:
That's my handsome son! - and he's a twin!!
Post a Comment