Happy New Year!

An interesting observation of mine as I walk through the streets of Tokyo or am out clubbing in the nightlife districts of Shibuya of wherever, is that the girls I generally find the most attractive among the native population of this city, are the ones that look the least like Japanese. Quite tall, hair dyed dark brown, or at least another shade of black, and skin at least a bit darker than the ghostly pale skin tone most seem to strive for - those are all attributes that would increase the likelihood of me looking twice at someone. Add a fashion style that says luxury rather than cute or slutty, and that second look is almost guaranteed.

Not that this is anything new. The ethnicities I tend to find the most attractive are, I think, those found in southern Europe, the Middle East, parts of Africa, and South America. So you might wonder what the hell I am doing in a country like Japan in the first place. You might. But doing so would of course fail to take into account all the wonderful things that make this country - and this city in particular - one of my absolute favorite places in the world. So let's stop wondering, and get on with the rest of this post.

Something very interesting that I learned today is that apparently the Japanese word arigatou, meaning "thank you", is a loanword. It comes from Portuguese obrigado, imported around the time when westerners (read: Portuguese) first came to Japan. Who would have thought that?

Anyway, as today is the first day of the new year, that of course means that yesterday was New Year's Eve! And that in turn means I had some great fun with a bunch of my friends. It was probably the most spontaneous and least planned New Year's Eve I have experienced in quite some time though. By the time I left my home for Shibuya at seven forty five in the evening, I still didn't know where we would be around the countdown to midnight.

We started out at the nice french-italian restaurant La Boheme in Shibuya (on the way to which we passed an Apple Store, which made me think of how much I want a Mac again). The restaurant had a very nice atmosphere, feeling a bit "old school" European, with interior walls of stone and everything. It felt somewhat exclusive, to be sure, but the place was actually quite affordable.

As for the food, we ordered in a bunch of pizzas with various toppings, and some tasty chicken as well. This was the first time I ate pizza since I left Sweden. They were considerably smaller than Swedish pizzas, but oh so tasty! I started out drinking wine, but then switched to drinks, finding a very nice, slightly sparkling orange tasting drink whose name I unfortunately can't remember.

Around eleven thirty we left the restaurant, as they had another reservation at twelve. We worked our way back to the large crossing outside of Shibuya station, where we got just in time for the countdown! The crowd went wild, and the new year arrived. Sad to say there are no fireworks on New Years in Japan - I wonder why. After gathering up on the opposite side of the crossing, I opened the bottle of champagne I had bought on my way to Shibuya earlier that evening. Sharing it with about half the people I was there with (it was only enough for so many, but I did have the prerogative of choosing who got a glass), we cheered for prosperity and success in this new year.

And prosperity and success is exactly what I would like to wish all of you out there. Happy new year to all of you! May 2009 be the year when all our dreams start coming true.

That naturally should have come at the end of the post, but as I am not really done yet, that will not actually be the case. Back to my story, we have reached the point where the fellowship start breaking up. For after the cheering with champagne, the group split in two. One half went to karaoke, while the other, with me among them, went clubbing. The choice of club fell on Atom, mostly because I said I wanted R&B and House, and none of us seemed to know of any other club in the area playing that kind of music. Which reminds me, I really should check out some new clubs one of these days.

We danced the night away, went to McDonalds for breakfast, returned to the station and went separate ways. When I exited the station in Ikebukuro I noticed that people seemed to be camping outside of several department stores. I am guessing that means that the legendary city-wide January sale starts today. Worth checking out to be sure, but I am definitely not in the kind of rush that made those sorry ass souls stay out there in the cold for I don't know how many hours this night.

Another interesting flock of people I ran into on my way home this morning was a group that had gathered on the walking bridge across the highway to look at what I think was the sunrise. If it was anything else, it was nothing I could see, and the sunrise was pretty nice, so that was probably it. They even had a camera set up, with some old man taking pictures.

I stopped up there for a few seconds to look at it with them. With one last glance at that beautiful sunrise, I then turned around and continued my walk home.

A Day of Parties

The Christmas party at school was better than I could ever have imagined. It was, without doubt, the best Christmas party any of my schools have ever hosted. The food served was kind of like a julbord consisting of a variety of fruit, sushi, and pizza. Especially the fruit and the pizza were quite a surprising sight, as both are things that tend to be really expensive here in Japan (with the exception of bananas and pineapple, for some reason). They even has strawberries! Believe me when I say that strawberries are worth their wight in gold here, despite their great popularity.

Once I'd eaten myself full on a variety of very tasty food, I found my way to a room where I could try my hand at the fine art of calligraphy. Sad to say I was not very good, which would prove to have consequenses later on, when I to my surprise was called to stage along with the other calligraphists, and had my work voted down by the ruthless crowd before us. Then came the fun part, getting up on that table with a microphone when accepting my consolation prize (which was ramen! ;D). Though my japanese skills still have a tendency to fly into hiding whenever I really need them, thus preventing me from expressing most of the things that popped into my head at the time, I had a great time anyway - I very much love speaking in front of a crowd.

One of the more interesting acts of entertainment during the party was a drag queen competition, which I am sad to say I took no part in. But I wasn't about to jump into something like that with my head first. If I were going to dress up as a girl, whether for a competition or just for fun, it would be done properly, requiring the right top, the right skirt, the right boots and accessories, hairstyle and makeup. Overall, I'd probably wear quite alot of fur. The boots would likely be lined with it, for one thing. In other words, I would have to do some serious shopping, which would all be fine (who doesn't love shopping, after all?), except I wouldn't currently have the money for it all. Who knows... when I do, maybe you will get to see me dressed up like that.

Once the party at school was over, I went home to wait in Alberto's party in the evening. Meeting up at 8 'o clock outside the koban by the east exit of Shinjuku station, we took the subway to Roppongi, where we went to the greatest drinking place ever! Designed like a block in some ancient Japanese town, or maybe it was as a larger inn from the same era, it really had atmosphere. It was quite expensive too, but Miyasaki-sensei was really generous and paid for all the food, so most of us only had to pay for whatever drinks we ordered. Anyway, the place is truly worth a visit, so I'll make sure to bring all of my friends there as soon as I have the opportunity. 

The people who were there today - apart from Alberto, Miyasaki-sensei and myself - were Sarah, Jennifer, Kitti, Legato, Victor, Kim, Poha, Runo, Yamanaka-sensei, and a friend of Miyasaki-sensei who looked very much like some actor or something whose face I can't quite place. (There was another classmate as well, who's name will be edited in as soon as I am awake enough to remember it.) Once we were full of food and drink - the best food and drink I've had in months - most of us went to see the Christmas lights around Roppongi Hills. They very very nice, especially with the beautifully lit up Tokyo Tower clearly being seen in the background.

Once it was time to return home, the group split in two once inside the subway station. Along with my half, I returned to Shinjuku to take the Yamanote line back to Ikebukuro.  But when we got to Shinjuku, it seemed that the trains going north had already stopped running. As Miyasaki's friend were also heading for Ikebukuro, he suggested to me and Legato that the three of us take the Chuo line eastwards to Akihabara, to hopefully be able to catch the Yamanote line from there before it would be too late.

But alas, somewhere along that trip he started to realize that there was no way we would make it (he was constantly browsing the internet on his phone, keeping track of all the trains and stuff). So when we got to Suidobashi, he urged us off the train, brought us out to the Taxi stand outside the station, and in a very nice gesture paid a taxi for the three of us back to Ikebukuro! I can't express how greatful I am to him at this moment. Without him, both Legato and I would be stuck somewhere in Tokyo right now, with no real possibility of getting home before the morning trains start running. Instead I now have my nice and cozy bed right here before me, and into that bed I will now fall down, let sleep overtake me, and get a really nice rest before tomorrow. Because then awaits a movie afternoon with pancakes and friends, followed by yet another sayonara party of Alberto's.