Weird Japan.
Visited a dance-club saturday, alone. First of all, they had this weird "1000 yen cheaper for foreigners"-thing. Which meant entry + 2 drinks 1500 yen (10euros), which is not bad.
Dancefloor - surprisingly, japanese people danced. I've been to places earlier where they're behaving annoyingly finnish and just nodding their heads and looking at the band. They would do it even if James Brown and Bootsy Collins were playing. But this time, dancing. Lots of it. And a 50 year old DJ in a Hawaiji shirt - playing radio hits. This is where it got more ... puzzling. Everybody singing along, and clapping at weird places of songs. Groups of guys and girls who sometimes do these trained group choreographies. 2 Girls, wearing a miniskirt (open buttons -> underwear) and a bra (didn't look like hired dancers tough). Japanese guys grinning at me, making manly "arrrhhh!"-kind of noises and raising their hands for a high five. Then finally, i talked with someone who could speak english (i can manage small conversations in japanese, but have serious difficulties in understanding slang) - she was there with her boyfriend and everything was clear from the start. But on the dancefloor the guy was acting pretty strange- positioning himself ALL THE TIME between me and her girlfriend. And when he went somewhere, his friend came to take his place. In the beginning i tought it was just a coincidence but then it happened many many times... made me feel kind of weird, especially because i wasn't trying anything with her. I've had this kind of "japanese guys behaving really paranoid/possessing"-thing before. It's almost like the general attitude is that if a girl has a boyfriend she just shouldn't talk with any other guys. Especially foreign.
Oh - i was reading some of the Outpost nine-guys' postings (http://outpostnine.com/editorials/teacher.html) and he mentioned the japanese obsession with talking about penis size. At the school festival i was talking with a couple of guys and their friend came there. When we introduced ourselves (i was there with another finnish guy) he said "my name is puma. I have a reeeaally big penis."... i don't know how i managed to keep a straight face and just answer something like "really? Oh." but definately one of the moments where i felt really foreign.
Random babbling - i should be typing stuff in japanese now. damn. will get it, now i think.
Dancefloor - surprisingly, japanese people danced. I've been to places earlier where they're behaving annoyingly finnish and just nodding their heads and looking at the band. They would do it even if James Brown and Bootsy Collins were playing. But this time, dancing. Lots of it. And a 50 year old DJ in a Hawaiji shirt - playing radio hits. This is where it got more ... puzzling. Everybody singing along, and clapping at weird places of songs. Groups of guys and girls who sometimes do these trained group choreographies. 2 Girls, wearing a miniskirt (open buttons -> underwear) and a bra (didn't look like hired dancers tough). Japanese guys grinning at me, making manly "arrrhhh!"-kind of noises and raising their hands for a high five. Then finally, i talked with someone who could speak english (i can manage small conversations in japanese, but have serious difficulties in understanding slang) - she was there with her boyfriend and everything was clear from the start. But on the dancefloor the guy was acting pretty strange- positioning himself ALL THE TIME between me and her girlfriend. And when he went somewhere, his friend came to take his place. In the beginning i tought it was just a coincidence but then it happened many many times... made me feel kind of weird, especially because i wasn't trying anything with her. I've had this kind of "japanese guys behaving really paranoid/possessing"-thing before. It's almost like the general attitude is that if a girl has a boyfriend she just shouldn't talk with any other guys. Especially foreign.
Oh - i was reading some of the Outpost nine-guys' postings (http://outpostnine.com/editorials/teacher.html) and he mentioned the japanese obsession with talking about penis size. At the school festival i was talking with a couple of guys and their friend came there. When we introduced ourselves (i was there with another finnish guy) he said "my name is puma. I have a reeeaally big penis."... i don't know how i managed to keep a straight face and just answer something like "really? Oh." but definately one of the moments where i felt really foreign.
Random babbling - i should be typing stuff in japanese now. damn. will get it, now i think.