115 posts tagged “tokyo”

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It was a long flight back. I sat next to a young kid on his way to visit a friend for a week in Chang Mai. He's an undergraduate student somewhere on the east coast, and it was obvious that he thought I was too. His eyes popped out when I told him I'd been out of school for eight years. Do the math, yes I'm almost 30.

I got lost on my way to my friend's house because I did my classic move of leaving a building and walking in the exact opposite direction of where I should be going. She's being kind and wonderful, letting me stay in her studio apartment that she shares with her husband, but things are cramped.

So I'm moving into a nice little room in Shimbashi tomorrow (or I guess today, I just woke up and it's 1:30am!). It has a big, 2001 Space Odyssey style capsule bed, and two big windows and enough space for my stuff and, a decent enough desk and chair. Plus free wi-fi and all utilities included, and it's cheaper than my other closet. And the building manager's really into maintaining the place, so it's just much less neglected. The kitchen's communal, and it's pretty big. There are about 40 rooms I think. Because it's so cheap maybe, it seems like most of the other residents are toothless old construction workers. They look kind of homeless, but they don't smell homeless, so that's good.

D-girl is working really hard. She started companioning too, and because work is unreliable at the ghetto club, she also works a little for another club in Akasaka. She fell asleep on the subway and got her wallet stolen. Shit like that happens when you're pushing yourself too hard. Poor girlfriend.

I dyed my hair cherry red/purple today. My friend says it's because subconciously I don't want to get a job. She might be right. It's a crazy color. People got out of my way and stuff when they see me coming. It's like I suddenly added 12 inches to my height. It's awesome.

So things are moivng along nicely.

My twin sister lived with two girls. Ayana just quit working as a hostess here in LA, and Kaya used to be a hostess back in the Kabukicho area of Tokyo.

Kaya was a hostess for many years, and unlike me (I half-assed the job most of the time, and could only keep up my motivation for two week stretches), she was serious about it. She worked in competitive high end clubs, and was consistent, hard working, and serious about her job.

She made more money than she knew what to do with, but spent pretty much all of it by the time she "retired" in her mid 20s.

Money was probably a big thing for her, seeing as her family didn't have any, and as a child she'd be abandoned by her father for weeks at a time, when she would have to fend for herself and her siblings. As an elementary school student, she survived on tangerines and sake (because she understood that it was made from rice) for a month, because that was all that was left in the house. To this day, she can't stand the sight of Onikoroshi sake.

Her best customer was a very rich yakuza man who often took trips to Macau. He would fly her out, rent out gorgeous and spacious hotel rooms for her, and take her out to the nightspots and the casinos. She was his accessory. She was constantly scared shitless on every one of these trips. Everything frightened her. The fact that she was in what seemed like a lawless island. The fact that she was surrounded by scary men. The scary secret hand signals they'd make to each other. The fact that she was far from home. But she would go because it was her job, and she took it seriously.

There are photos of her in Macau with her customer. She's wearing a beautiful evening dress and smiling a stiff, frightened smile.

Beautiful young women are always the ultimate accessory. You see it in movies all the time. I just watched the Dark Knight (which kicked ass), and Bruce Wayne's always walking around with glamorous women on both arms. But I can't ever look at those types of scenes without thinking about what those girls are thinking. Probably scared shitless. And probably thinking they're just not getting paid enough. All I know is, that's what I would be thinking.

Anyway, Kaya is a nail technician here in America now. She doesn't want to go back to Japan, and she won't ever be a hostess again. She still is proud of the hard work she put in as a hostess though. When Ayana told her that in LA some girls literally say "I don't drink alcohol," she looked down her nose and said "they're not taking the work seriously." I kind of agree. I don't have a problem with girls not drinking, but you can't say it. How's a customer supposed to enjoy his drinks if he's with a girl like that?

Rie Nonaga.

Her blog (with performance dates etc.) here.

This girl rules. She's a jazz singer in Tokyo, and every time I've seen her sing she's blown me away.

First of all, she's so young (21), but she means every note she sings.

And second of all, she's just the cutest thing you've ever seen.

Plus she's got some gorgeous knockers, and she's not afraid of showing them.

So again, her blog (with performance dates etc.) here.

And linked to the right of course.

I miss Tokyo...

I'm going out with Rich tomorrow. He finally got smart and asked me to something OTHER than to see him play in some dive. We're gonna go see Batman in IMAX. This is great for so many reasons. Not least because he won't be able to talk non-stop about himself if we're in a movie theater.

My friend Baldy (American guy) really needs to wake up and break up with his idiot girlfriend (Japanese girl). She pulled a knife on him and stabbed his shirt when they got in an argument in her kitchen! Dude, this isn't funny anymore. In fact, it stopped being funny a loooooonnggg time ago.

So I sent him a short email which said the following:
- your girlfriend sucks
- you don't suck, in fact you rule
- what's happening with you and your girlfriend right now is not only abusive and crap, it's also DANGEROUS. you don't want to get hurt, you don't want to hurt her, you don't want to get her pregnant, you don't want to have to go to jail or the hospital
- we all love you
- and we all understand that you're ACTING stupid but YOU are not actually stupid, so we'll be here waiting whenever you get over ACTING stupid
- and we hope its sooner rather than later

Since Baldy started seeing this girl, our good mutual friend got INTO and OUT of an abusive relationship! And he's still stuck! At least with our mutual friend it was a girl on girl love affair so there was no possibility of an "oops" baby. Plus that relationship's dead and buried.

I want to shake his pattern balding dumb head!

I just got another email from my old boss, the world's laziest hostess club owner. He sent me a summer greeting e-card (that he made himself, what a dork). It's not as amusing as his last email.

"It's so terribly hot here. I try to sweat it out a few hours at the gym every day to get away from the heat. Here in Japan the news is always bad, with an earthquake in the northeast and stabbings of innocent people. Please enjoy your time with your father, bye." And then a pdf of a strange penguin and some glacial landscape. I guess the idea was that it made you feel cooler because it's so hot right now.

I seem to have gotten myself onto his mailing list. He spends all his time sending greetings and coupons through email and actual mail and not doing actual work at the club.

But he's a good father and a faithful husband. He barely does any work at the club (comes to work late and leaves early and doesn't do anything while he's there), but he gets up early every day, walks his kids to school and is a good stay at home dad.

One time one of the other daddies that he sees every morning when he walks his kids to pre-school came to our club. This daddy said that the boss told him to come to the club some time, so he did, bringing two of his co-workers. They were actually pretty cool. Both this daddy and my boss married foreign women, so their kids were like me. Which was a little bit freaky.

My dad came back from his camping trip today. He had a three-day beard and looked pretty tired, but kind of invigorated. He told me about where he went (some mountain on the Nevada border that's near Death Valley), and he asked me if it was similar to the boonies town my mother lives in. I couldn't answer him because I don't know what the place he went camping in was like.

Then Kosuke came to pick me up so we could go see a triple-feature on Asian punk rock documentaries at some artsy fartsy movie theater. I was kind of surprised to see Michael Des Barres there presenting the films. Gotta love LA. "Famous" people everywhere.

To be honest, we only sat through the first two. And the first one was just terrible. It was about the Beijing punk rock scene, except it wasn't really. It was half-ass and shallow and boring. The second one was cool because it was about the Tokyo punk rock scene, and seeing Shinjuku made me want to get on the next plane back. I miss it so much. But it was still crap. Both films were made by westerners for an English speaking audience, and neither of the documentaries really got past "hey! look at these Asian people playing punk rock!" And I was almost tearing my hair out at the end because it was just so repetative and boring. And there was absolutely no story!

It was worth it though, because I now know my favorite band name of all time. New Pants. That's what they were called. New Pants. They're from Beijing.

still fighting the urge to get on the next plane back to Tokyo, but things are getting easier. What will I do anyway? Work in another hostess club?

Things are getting easier. I'm still here.

I'm in LA.

Whew.

I miss Tokyo.

You can't ever leave Tokyo. I love how some people pretend that they can just move on, but you can't move on from Tokyo. You'll always go back.

Best Friend said as much when I was leaving. "You'll be back. Tokyo's not the kind of place you can really leave." She should know. When she tried to leave she kept coming back every few months.

Caught up on all my fellow voxers. Good to see everyone doing well.

Very jet-lagged at the moment, so will now go to sleep.

Home. Kind of busy today. Got some new contacts that I'll never use. A new girl came in to interview (Japanese, very hostess-like) and ended up working for the night. She's coming from a high-class place with a lot of pressure, and she made me realize yet again how ghetto this place is. We found out that we were the same age. I thought she was much younger, and vice versa. Maybe conventional wisdom isn't true -- hostessing keeps you young!!!????

But it all doesn't matter because I am DONE!

I gave mama a hug and she said "come back, okay?" I said okay, and she said "thank you, that's all I wanted to hear."

I got an email on my phone from the boss saying "take care, rest up, and come back to us when you're back in Japan. That is if we're still open (laugh)."

I won't be going back. I don't think.

How come I always get my period right before I travel? Last day of work, first day of my period.

Mia spilled wine all over herself last night. She always drinks too much and does stuff like that. She went to the back and got changed behind the curtain (where she usually smokes). It was kind of sexy when she drunkenly left her dress outside and had to reach out for it with her bare arm. Or maybe it was just ditzy and stupid, I don't know.

Chiba Girl was in a super happy mood too. For the past few weeks she's been feeling tired and she wouldn't stop complaining about her small room, the noisy neighborhood, the drunken losers that are everywhere, and how hard she has to work. The issues she's been having with drinking, throwing up, insomnia and sleeping pills were getting the better of her. But last night she actually said "I love Roppongi!"

She went back to Chiba and her husband last week, and I think she remembered how boring that place is, and how she has so much more fun here. So that was good.

"Come back here in four months, okay!? I'm going to still be here!" she exclaimed, even though last week she said she was quitting after I left. "You'll still be here, right Mia?" she asked. To which Mia replied "I hope not." It seems like those two have patched up their extended cold war fight.

I'm feeling a little sad that it's my last day. I'm not as extreme as Chiba Girl, but I do have my ups and downs with the job. There have definitely been a few ups. I just might miss it a little.

I'm off to my last day as a Roppongi hostess.

行ってきます！