Wee Hours

last night i went out on the gay town.  the gayborhood in tokyo is about 3 square blocks.  but within that area there are about 30 establishments - bars, clubs, bookstores and saunas.  how? they build up.  there are bars on the 3rd or 5th or 7th floor of a building.  i began my night at Dragon.  the best means of conveying my night is through the many people i met as i consumed way too many Sapporo and shots of whiskey.

i think one of the favorites is bartender Nihak at Dragon.  a local, who lived in brooklyn for 12 years (dancer), he hooked me up with good talk and good beer.  it was his stevie wonder shirt that got my attention, not to mention his great smile.  i look forward to seeing him again tonight.  i forget the other bartender's name, but with his bleached blond hair and long conversations about dragonball z and miyazake, he is also imprinted - he has plans to move to vancouver with his husband to be so they can get married and enjoy the greenery.  at the bar, i met scott, the charles schwab working san franciscoan (born and raised in syracuse), who has been with his partner for 23 years and will be getting gay married in october.  i also met paul, a washington dc native who lived in africa for 17 years working for the State Department; we talked about obama's potential picks for state department posts.  

i spent quite some time at Dragon with these men, but decided to broaden my horizons.  my next stop was to Advocates where i imposed upon Phil, sydney native but in tokyo for 7 years, and guy=whose-name i forgot #2, born in marquette, michigan, lived on the Big Island in hawaii, and then tokyo for 10 years.  we talked long windedly about living in tokyo, the gay scene and, but of course, comic books!  #2 works for a film company, and so not only did various comic films enter the picture, but so did the knowledge that he was an avid comic reader for 20 years - we were quizzing each other on the New Mutants roster (remember them? the pre X Force days?  work!).  the comic discussion bored Phil.  we were soon joined by a delightful transvestite, whose name i regrettably forgot.  i do have pictures!  she, phil, #2 and I spent the next 45 minutes talking about American Idol.  oh Lakisha.  oh Melinda.  oh Sanjaya.  our fallen stars...

Advocates was clearing out, and I had clearly missed my train home.  back to Dragon for me!  therein, I met Justin, from new zealand, lewis, from nyc but now in tokyo, alex, from france but now tokyo for study, and jim, from manchester.  and of course, Nihak and bleached-blond-bartender.  things got rowdy.  i think i was there for another 2 hours of beer downing, shot taking, silliness.  such a blast!  remind me sometime about my conversation with Justin about Angels in America (it's just not appropriate for public consumption).

Around four in the morning, the bar closed up, people started going home, and I needed to kill some time between then and when the trains started so I could get to Tsujiki Fish Market.  similarly to my comment about Angels in America, those stories are best delivered in person.  let me just say, tokyo is one awesome adventure!