BootsnAll Travel Network



Tokyo, Japan

The club was called Atom.  It was extremely hard to find.  Before we had left the hostel we got directions from this Canadian named Kelly.  She gave Adam some bootleg directions drawn on two sides of a small piece of paper.  It had no landmarks, no street names, and I’m pretty sure after ten minutes Adam stopped listening.  Adam was this guy I met at the hostel pretty much straightaway when I arrived.  He was 27 and from Indiana/Hawaii.  He went to Bloomington and was into film and the movie industry.  He had worked as a PA in Hawaii on several tv shows, commercials and movies.  Anyway we got chatting in the common room, and after a little while he mentioned how he was interested in going out.  He then explained to me the aforementioned train situation and for no reason at all I was like “Let’s do it!”  He was like are you sure?  I’m responded “Hell yea!”  The time was roughly 1115 and we had till 12AM to get on the last train to get to the club.  We had to get through a series of intricate subway networks.  Hibiya Line to Ueno Station to some other color to finally the orangish line where we took that all the way to Shibuya.  Shibuya was a very happening district in Tokyo.  (Lights, camera, action, sorry Ms. Jackson?)  Anyway, we made the last train to Shibuya at like 1150PM.  It was real close, we had been running through these stations like that scene in Home Alone 1 or 2, take your pick.  It was really fun.  I think half the fun was the journey of getting to the club itself, and getting in was really the bonus.

So we got off the train in Shibuya, and was like OK let’s try these directions we have.  Not really feeling too confident about our directions situation I suggested we look for the youngest group of kids/adults to ask, maybe they would speak a little english and maybe know where Atom was.  So we found a group of girls and guys that were probably 18-20 and Adam in Japanese asked them if they spoke english?  They responded by saying “a little,” in Japanese.  We asked them if they knew of club atom.  They were like ahh ahh A-Tom, yes yes over there (to the left), have fun!  We thanked them and started walking in the direction they pointed us in.  We then compared the direction they pointed us in to the directions that Kelly gave us.  They were not matching up. After walking for about 5 minutes, we tried the same thing and asked a group of young adults about club atom.  They then said yes yes, its over there (to the right).  So we turned around and walked back to the right.  Again comparing the notes we had from Kelly, and they again were not matching up.  What kind of fucked up directions did she give us?  Was this just a big joke to send us on a wild goose chase through Shibuya and Tokyo?  At one point I asked Adam if even thought the club existed and if this was a big joke?  He responded by saying that he doubted that Kelly would give us bogus directions but acknowledged that it would have been a pretty good joke to do so?  So after walking 5-7 minutes back to the right we asked a group of people once again.  They again gave us a different set of directions.  We tried following those.  WRONG.  Well it turns out that the fourth time was a semi-charm.  We were getting a little upset, the time was about 115am.  We had been walking around for probably 45 minutes, back and forth, definitely got a tour of Shibuya.  We approached these two guys and this girl.  Adam again asked in Japanese if they spoke English and one kid said a little bit.  We asked him about club atom.  This time the guy actually gave us more than a direction.  He mentioned several landmarks in broken English and a building to turn left at.  Feeling good about the directions we had just given, we got a confidence booster and were walking with a little hop in our step.  After walking for about 10-15 minutes, we were feeling a little lost yet again, but then like an act of g-d, this dude was standing on a street corner handing out these flyers to another club.  He really didn’t speak much English, but we mentioned club atom, he first tried to explain how to get there, then was just like I will take you (to the building we were looking for, so we knew where to turn).  We thanked him profusely.  It was a good 10 minute walk back down the street and around, and through smaller streets.  Basically there is no way we would have found this place without this kid.  Eventually we arrived at the landmark which was Don Quixote.  Of course the guy who told us too look for this building must have assumed we spoke Japanese because “Don Quixote” was in Japanese!  Anyway, from there we walked around the bend of the street and looked up the steep hill.  I was like wait a second the girl from before said that the club was up “steep hill.”  Here is a steep hill, and isn’t that “Roxio,” the place from Kelly’s directions?  Adam said yes on both fronts, and finally we were getting somewhere.  After walking up several hills, observing all of the “love hotels,” in the area, we found club atom, which ironically enough was not even the name on the damn place.  It was called something else, but we knew that this was the place from Kelly’s description.  Before going in at like 145am we decided to get some food.  I was craving Western food (non-asian), and luckily there was some place called “Freshness Burger.”  I told Adam this was the place for us and proceeded to order the basic freshness burger.  It was like a chili style burger, extremely messy, but extremely good.  I was craving grease after the numerous Asahi Super Dry beers I had consumed on the flight over here earlier in the day.  It was just sitting in my stomach waiting for some grease to absorb it all.  It was a catch-22 though, because anytime I eat food before I drink, it is really hard for me to get drunk.  It takes too much time and money.  Anyway, I didn’t think twice about scarfing down the burger in two seconds and tasting it later.

After leaving freshness burger we finally got to Atom and was ready to go in.  Kelly had originally told us the cover would be 1000 yen and 500 yen a drink.  Considering Japan, that would be very cheap.  Too bad she was wrong.  It was 3000 yen entry plus free drink valued at 500 yen and 500 yen any drink.  The 500 yen a drink was really appealing but the 3000 yen (22-24 bucks) was not.  When we got to the pay station, we told the guy we thought we had an invitation to the club (would give us a nice discount).  He told us we didn’t have the right thing, but said he would take a 1000 yen off for each of us.  We were like sweet (Arigato; thank you), and went in.  The club was three floors, two had techno/house and one had hip hop music.  We got in to the club at around 2am and it was pretty empty.  Apparently things don’t get going in Tokyo till LATE and not like NYC late of like 1230 – 1am, we’re talking like 230, 3am late.  It was insane.  The club was something I had never witnessed in my life.  From the music, to the dancers on the podium dancing the entire night, to the fashion of both the men and woman, to the fact that the club isn’t at it’s best till 4am.

The music and atmosphere was superb.  Everyone was out on the floor dancing away, not caring, just free flowing and feeling the deep bass of the house music.  Adam and I immediately proceeded to the nearest bar and started downing drinks.  I was getting Jack straight up on the rocks and was getting like half cup fulls, while Adam was getting a lot of sprite and a little vodka.  I told him he needed to first ask for a shot then tell them he wanted a little sprite and he would get hooked up.  Oh well.  I was enjoying my Jack.  I hadn’t had it for a few weeks and missed that sweet sweet bourbon/whiskey goodness.  After a few drinks we made our way to the dance floor and started to dance and scope out the scene.  After about an hour we noticed that the girls and guys were not dancing together.  In fact they were separated and all standing dancing and facing the DJ.  It was so strange.  We thought maybe it was the song or something, but no.  For the entire night the girls and the guys really didn’t dance together.  They didn’t even look at each other, talk to one another nothing.  Except for the occasional foreigners dancing together and maybe a couple or two, nothing.  I have never seen that before.  Not even like high school or bar mitzvahs where even at the end for the last slow dance the girls and guys match up and dance.

Throughout the entire night Adam and I really couldn’t get over that.  Really weird.  Next on to fashion.  If you don’t know the fashion in Tokyo is crazy.  They are really creative, both the guys and the girls.  Anything goes.  At this club the guys were dressing up prettier than the girls.  Apparently the socially acceptable fashion for the guys is very feminine.  Lots of feminine colors and clothing.  Colorful and pattern tank tops to really big hair and really tan.  I think a local mentioned to us that the guys try to look prettier than the girls, and the girls dig it.  It was also a little strange to see such white Asians look so tan.  The girls were decked out.  Lots of knee high socks and skirts with big heels.  They looked good.  Such a waste that they don’t talk to any of the guys including Adam and myself.

At about 330am I was really feeling it.  I was buzzing a bit and we had moved around to all the floors by then.  We eventually made our way back to the bottom floor.  The bottom floor was really trippy.  It looked like a cave, and had these strobe lights and lazer lights going with the deep bass.  It was really cool.  I could see Adam in the back not really dancing, but I was feeling it so got out there and danced the night away.

Overall the night was really fun.  We were at the club till about 5am when it closed (closes when sun comes up).  The weirdest part of the night was leaving the club when it was so bright out after coming when it was so dark.  I don’t typically stay out all night partying and going to clubs but this was definitely an experience I won’t forget.  We hit up McDonald’s even though we probably shouldn’t have.  It tasted damn good.  McDonald’s and Asia = check!  After food we headed to the subway to catch the train.  It was hilarious to see all of the kids look like death, all the girls walking home decked out and cracked out.  I think we were the best looking ones around, and we were really tired ourselves.  I had been up since like 830am the day before and was still going strong at 630, well kind off.  We got on the several trains we needed to take to get back to the hostel.  At one station my ticket wasn’t working properly and the conductor at the station (there are conductors at every single station in Tokyo all hours of the day and night checking tickets and stuff, its nuts) was really trying hard to get the ticket to work when he could have very easily pushed a button and let me go.  But no at 6am this conductor was not giving up.  I was starting to get a little frustrated being real tired, cranky and wanting desperately to go to sleep!  Finally he got it to go and was visibly excited with himself, I was not so cheerful.
We got back to the hostel at about 7am and I literally got in to my room and crashed down on to the bed.  Unfortunately my sleep would be short lived.  The two asian girls and Kelly got up real early, took their showers, unpacked their bags, being all loud and shit, and I was up at like 855am.  Less than two hours of sleep in two days = not good for Josh.  Anyone who knows me, knows that I enjoy my ten hours of sleep a night and if I get between 4-8 I’m really not a happy chappy in the morning.

So I was up at 9am after getting home at 7am and was not happy…

What a very interesting less than 12 hours in Japan…



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