A JET Weekend – Hisashiburi!

A couple weekends ago, all the JETs in Osaka-fu had a conference on Thursday and Friday. We met in Abiko and had various workshops and whatnot. That’s not what I’m going to talk about though. The point is that since we were all in one place at one time, it was convenient for all of us to get together after the conference on Friday. It was actually an arranged event at Tin’s Hall. They opened early for us, and every drink we bought, 200 yen went to aiding the Philippines. Also, there was a stand-up comedy act at the event as well. It was a fun time! I became friends with one of the comedians that night. Waka is his nickname. He was really funny, so we decided to hang out the following day. Overall, it was just a really nice to catch up with everyone. I hadn’t seen many of my JET friends in quite some time!

Catching up with Tanner. Love this kid.

The next day was the JET Christmas party at Club Class. Before going to the club, Diego, Waka, Shawn, and I went to Doma Doma izakaya for drinks and snacks. We did a three hour nomihoudai. Needless to say, after that we were all feeling quite good. It was really fun getting to know Waka. He’s just as funny off the stage as he is on.

Sake bombs.

Good times!

Waka squishing his face in the door.

When we got to Club Class, it was nothing like I expected. First, I expected it to be only JET’s and friends of JET’s, but when I walked in, there were a ton of Japanese people I didn’t know, mostly guys. As I was walking in, Aimee told me that there were a ton of hot guys... it took literally about 10 seconds after I walked in for about 3 or 4 gorgeous guys to walk up to me and start talking me up. You know, the usual, “Where are you from? Do you speak Japanese? Are you a student?” After the questions, they all started offering to buy me drinks. I was like, “WHAT IS GOING ON?? THIS IS AWESOME!” Haha! I did not pay for a single drink the entire night. I’m used to getting attention from males at bars and clubs because I’m the typical blue-eyed, light-haired, pale girl, but usually it’s only one guy at a time, and usually they are like older salary men or just average dudes. Sometimes I get one hot guy interested in me, but never more than one! It took me a bit to figure out what was going on, but I noticed a sign that said “pick-up” event on it. Later I asked Reiko, the event coordinator, about why it was such a nanpa-y atmosphere (nanpa means like guys hitting on girls and trying to pick them up), and she explained that when she asked the owner of the club if she could use his space for a JET party, he agreed but advertised it as a pickup event to his regular customers. So in other words, a bunch of guys (and girls) knew that a bunch of foreigners would be gathering and possibly interested in more than talking. :P

Beautiful men.

While I was at the club/bar, I talked with some of my JET friends, but mostly just let the hotties keep buying me tequila shots. I was having a blast! It was such a self-esteem booster! Andrew was DJ-ing at the event. We danced a bit, and I decided which guy I liked the best. From then, I only danced and talked with him for the most part. After hanging there a little bit longer, we decided to relocate to Jaws. A pretty big group came along. I walked hand in hand with the hot guy. When we got there, we danced for a while, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t end up kissing the hot guy quite a bit. Unfortunately, he works in Tokyo, so nothing can really of our one night relationship. L In any case, I had a great night! I felt so popular and cool! I was the perfect level of buzzed the whole night and felt fine the next day. Saturday nights in Japan are something I will hold dear to me for the rest of my life. <3