ASH: Do you rub leggae?
Trip Start
Jan 25, 2006
1
14
106
Trip End
Ongoing
Kyoto,
Japan
Saturday, February 18, 2006
So what actually happened (after we had an awesome dinner at a sushi-go-round and played on the Kyoto station escalators for awhile) is that we went back to the hostel to change clothes and ask one of the girls who works there about the happening places to go in Kyoto. She said the best club by far is one called Metro, which she described as being in (?) the Marutamachi train station. There was another station just down the street from us, so we walked down there and hopped on a train headed for Marutamachi, following three very scantily clad women whose perfume we could smell from the other end of the train car. When we got off at Marutamachi, we were perplexed at seeing four different exit signs and no indication of where the club might be. Noting that the three smelly girls had gotten off at the same stop, we decided to follow them at a subtle distance, figuring that if this club was really that cool, they must be headed there, particularly the way they were dressed. After following them down a passageway, up a few flights of stairs, out of the station, and around the corner, we discovered that we were sadly mistaken - the door the Beyonce-wanna-be's entered was actually that of a tiny and very pretentious-looking restaurant, not a raucous club at all.
A bit bewildered as to where we should look next, we found our way back into the station and starting walking in the opposite direction from the route we had originally taken. As we reached an intersection in the underground maze, we realized we might be hearing music and turned toward it. The sounds gradually grew stronger, and we finally found ourselves in front of the club we were seeking, which was tucked into an odd back corner of the station with music blaring.
After paying the cover and heading inside, we discovered a brilliant feature of clubs in Japan: they have coin-operated lockers, right in the front on either side of the entrance. This means that, unlike going clubbing in other cold places I've been, you can feel free to wear the appropriate outer garments while travelling to the club, then divest yourself of the jacket, hat, scarf, gloves, extra sweaters, etc. when you get there and actually have someplace to put them. Very smart.
Free of our coats, we wandered further inside to discover that it was apparently reggae night at Metro, which brought out an interesting assortment of people that I hadn't seen much of on the streets, namely Japanese people with dreds and facial piercings. Also, I saw my first and only butch Japanese girl, which was just weird, especially when a guy seemed to compliment her on her newly shaven head, and she bowed to him!! Very jarring to my western frame of reference.
I was also a bit surprised at how many guys were drinking what in the States would definitely be considered girly drinks. Apparently in keeping with the hyper-metro looks that a lot of them sport (frequently prompting me to actually think they are women, until I catch a glimpse of facial hair (gah!)), it is totally cool for a guy to be seen in a club casually downing a Skyy Blue or Smirnoff Ice. Not a huge deal, I guess, but when there are more men drinking those than drinking beers?? That was new to me.
I think Nick's favorite part of our Metro experience (haha, name corresponds to both the location of the club and the guys inside it :-P) was the second or third dj who came onstage to spin his tracks. I guess he thought the crowd needed to be hyped up a bit, because he started yelling, "Do you rub leggae? Do you rub leggae?!?! Come on, eber'body!!" I have to admit, it was pretty damn funny to hear a Japanese guy try to speak English like a Jamaican. If you have the opportunity to experience this, I definitely recommend you take it.
