Party or DIE!!!!

Just before I gear up for a heady week of partying and festive cheer starting in just a few hours time (what with it being Christmas and having a two week break from lessons), it's probably about time I gave a rundown of some of the wacky weekends I had earlier this month.

First off was the Mukaijima Gakusei Centre Year End Party, on 2nd December (a little premature for a year end party I think). I had just got back from teaching three women English in Osaka, filling in for my friend Brett who couldn't make it that weekend - and it was a very interesting, fulfilling experience I'd like to have the opportunity to try again. And the pay was excellent too! I dumped my stuff in my room, then headed to the adjacent seminar house where most of the Mukaijima residents were gathered. And a select number of non-Mukaijima Doshisha amigos had also come along (some of whom had already begun the celebrations by going on a tour of Fushimi sake breweries during the day). After a few speeches, it was food and drink time, with four chefs cooking up some yummy Japanese food has everyone nattered and mingled. Then came the entertainment, which consisted mainly of Mexican dancing and acoustic strumming. And all hosted by Mukaijima's only male Japanese resident, Katsu - dressed as a chicken. During the show, I met a fellow English person, Josy, who was friends with Dries from Doshisha. And it turns out that she studied Japanese and History at SOAS (just like me)! She was now working and living in Nara after graduating in the summer and we spent a long time chatting away about Kashiwagi-sensei, Angus Lockyer, and Messrs. Kelly, Dykes and Chu (with whom she studied Korean with). It was inspiring to meet someone at the other end of the university tunnel and it's a shame we didn't meet before. Bizarre!

The final party part was a true or false quiz about Mukaijima and Japan, and despite some vague questions and incorrect answers, I managed to win a Hello Kitty flannel. However, a quick swap with Sarah resulted in a climber's chalk sack, which played host to my beer cans for the remainer of the evening.

The party then moved into the Mukaijima basement, which was seldom used, but they did a bang-up job of converting into a proper nightclub (with lighting provided by the Japanese DJ crew), not something that happens everyday, so I made full use of it. As the party kicked off, a circle formed, and as myself and Josh busted killer moves in the middle, it looked like we swifly killed off the competition - no one dared follow in our dancesteps! Nevertheless, the grooves continued afoot, and everyone was jumping about like loons soon enough (even if the DJs couldn't mix for disco fudge). However, by midnight, many people had to call it a night, as some had trains to catch, while others had an exam the next day.

I retreated to behind the bar and despite not being officially appointed bar staff, no-one seemed to care by that point. I helped myself to the hefty selection on offer, with a raft of spirits and liquors to mix with alongside the cans of beer and Cocktail Partner, and stopped charging anyone else for drinks. I'm no expert on Japanese licensing laws, but I'm sure it's not 100% legit to sell alcohol in a makeshift bar in the basement of a student dorm - I saw myself as something of a people's champion. And when I found a bottle of cinnamon After Shock - which stunned the Japanese barflies with its 40% alcohol content - I was letting people share a taste of my sugary shot youth. It was now MY BAR!

By 3am, the only people remaining were me, Marcus (from Germany who I've karaoke'd and watched TV with many times), and the Japanese lighting and music crew. Well, I say Marcus remained, but by that point, his Japanese, English and German had all mushed into one incomprehensible slur - all I could make out was him asking for another whiskey and coke, each time with a little less whiskey, which he'd still pay for every time. After more chatting and drinking (and I drank a lot), it was time to pack it up and pack it in at 3.30am. Nighty night.

Next weekend was myself and Tal's trip to Nagoya! We met at Kyoto station after I'd sent postcards and greeting cards to the UK, and boarded our coach for the two and a half hour trip. It was cheaper and more convenient than train-hopping, even if the Shinkansen could get us there in 40 minutes flat. Plus, it was exciting going on the motorway, just to have a look at Japan from a different point of view - the road-user. On the outskirts of both cities, we were 'treated' to some of the crummiest looking hotels I've ever seen. Faux Arabian spires, castle decor, the travesty that was the Hotel London, and the uninvitingly named Hotel Charon (would you want to stay at a hotel named after the ferryman who transports dead souls to Hades?). As we approached Nagoya, we also got to see what Lenka described as the Japanese version of Las Vegas - even more hotels, gaudy pachinko parlours, comic shops with massive signs - but everything was far more...grey.

Nagoya itself is actually rather nice though. We met the whole SOAS Nagoya crew of Lenka, Mikael and Bobby at Nagoya station. Despite not being very hungry, we decided to have a look at the restaurants on the 17F floor of the station - but when we spotted an Indian restaurant called Maharaja, there was no question we had to eat there. Tal and I had only just been talking on the coach about how we would love a decent curry - lo and behold, our destiny awaits! I ordered the deluxe set which included three curries, shish kebab, tandoori chicken, salad, naan and rice. It's amazing how an appetite can develop when presented with the possibility of really lovely food. And boy was it delicious - exactly what I needed, and we all left with a spring in our step, and spicy food in our bellies.

Before heading to the gig, we took a walk around Nagoya's main shopping areas, complete with wonderful Christmas illuminations, a massive fountain and tower, another ferris wheel (it seems as much of a prerequisite of a major Japanese city as a city hall - Osaka has two!) and a bright green laser fired into the sky for apparently no reason - maybe Nagoya was dangerously below the average light pollution Japanese cities produce, or it was a Batman-esque signal for a flourescent green superhero.

We said our goodbyes to Lenka and Bobby, and met Mikael, who'd brought his American friend Matt (who's ID card photo had RAPIST written all over it - but he was too nice to be a real one) along, at the Polysics venue. Which was on the 8th floor of a department store - a little strange, but once we were inside, you wouldn't have been able to tell otherwise. There was a little confusion as to which department store at first as the shop was called Parco, but after trying Parco South and Parco West, it turned out to be at Parco East - very helpful...Despite the ticket stating it included a drink, it seemed we had merely paid for the chance to buy a drinks ticket for 500 yen, which we could then exchange for a kids size portion of beer (if kids could drink beer). We dumped our stuff in the coat room (which was a bank of lockers which could only accomodate for about a third of attendees) and decided to take our places. Undeterred by the density of the Polysics fans that had already gathered in the small cramped gigfloor, we pushed and weaved ourselves towards the front and myself and Mikael began a loud conversation about how we were on the You-You-You DVD, hoping it might get some nearby fans interested - mmmmmmm....no.

Then, soon after 7pm, the show began. No warm-up acts or introductions. Just pure Polysics -very loud and very live! The band was on top-form, Hayashi tearing up the stage with the kind of energy few humans possess. There was even some wonderful synchronised dance routines amid the chaos. The Japanese fans were moshing furiously despite barely being able to move in any direction other than up (images from Chemistry class of densley packed molecules in solid masses flashed through my mind). It got unbelievably hot and sweaty - it was not soon before I was gasping for air and realised how useful the Polysics towels and sweatbands other fans had bought were. Indeed, on the official Polysics blog, Hayashi says:

クアトロ全体が蒸し風呂＆ゆでダコ状態になった！！！！
(The whole of Quattro became a steam bath and I felt like a boiled octopus!!!!)

While I wanted to move closer to the stage, I encountered a deadlock of couples clinging tightly together in the storm - it looked as if most of the girls had fainted under the heat anyway. It didn't matter, as despite being five rows from the front, the natural height advantage gave me a clear view. I still sang, screamed and shouted along, making all sorts of the strange hand gestures one invariably does at gigs. At one point, I was pointing and resting my elbow on the shoulder of the guy in front of me...until I realised it wasn't his shoulder but his girlfriend's head.

As for the actual music, well it was brilliant as ever. Kaja Kaja Goo was something like the second song, there was a wonderful slow-stomp version of Commodoll that provided a welcome breather, and many of the tracks from Now is the Time!. While there was no Black Out Fall Out, we got to see plenty of songs that only the Japanese fans knew, including a great interlude which consisted of all the band members talking very quickly over one another. By this point, the salty sweat was blinding my eyes as if I'd just taken a dip in the ocean. I'd forced my way even closer, and Hayashi's crowd interaction reached new levels of madness - from classic stage diving to trying to stick as many of the crowd's fingers in his mouth as possible. While I didn't get the digit sucking treatment, I got arm, foot and guitar contact.

Seemingly as echausted as the band, we were still ready for the encore onslaught, and they racked up an amazing four encores, during which they spoke a little bit about the new album in the works (a new single, Catch On Everywhere, is released on 31st January) and generally catching their breath. Final song was as I hoped: You-You-You - which brought the house down. But that was far from it. After disappearing off stage briefly, this mad electronic music began. The band returned with the two male members brandishing noise-making plastic mallets and the female members armed with Polaroid cameras. They then preceded to bash the heads of the crowd a la Whack-a-Mole (I got 3 confirmed smashes in a row), while Kayo and Fumi took snaps and tossed them into the crowd. Absolutely astonishing stuff, and all wrapped up by 9pm. The Polysics blog goes on to say it was their best live show yet, and the prospect of their 10th anniversary show in March in Tokyo is a tempting one indeed.

Drenched in sweat, aching all over and pretty much knackered, we waddled out of the venue. Matt and Mikael bought Polysics t-shirts and changed into them, and while I did buy a t-shirt, sweatband and towel, I didn't want to use my new purchases on my sweaty self. So we headed out into the chill of night, which did little to help my stinky soaked situation. Refreshed after a trip to the convenience store, we toyed with the idea of heading back to Kyoto that evening, but it turned out the last coach had been at 7pm.

Mikael said we could stay at his place, but guests were strictly prohibited and it seems he lives with a bunch of childish snitches who we needed to avoid at all costs. Despite the security risks of us trying to get in earlier than we'd planned, we made a go for it anway. Matt and him scoped the area, then Matt went in and unlocked a back door. We climbed over a fence, and ninja'd to the door, removed our shoes, and hot-footed it into Mikael's room, closing the door behind us. We'd succeeded, but now it was the time for sleepy time on the floor.

We woke around 11am, and with showers prohibited because of our secret entry and no cash, we decided to get the next coach back to Kyoto (the Nagoya Robot Museum will have to wait another day). That same weekend, Tingshan was visiting from Tokyo, and before she went, I met her, Baptiste and Parn at Kyoto station for some yummy omelette soba and Calpis Chu-hai.
For Tal's view on the Polysics trip plus a few photos, click here!

Phew! If you've read all the way down to the bottom, congratulations. I plan to post a Christmas message soon, reports on some upcoming parties and outings as well as some more general thoughts and ramblings, plus more film and CD reviews, as well as casting my critical eye over an amateur stage production of a love story between a girl and Godzilla. I'm going now, bye!