Tokyo Nightlife

 My first experience with the nightlife in Tokyo. Very very entertaining, but you have to have a lot of energy. The clubs get hopping generally around 11pm or so, but unfortunately the trains stop running around midnight in Japan and start up again at 5am. The day that we went clubbing was a Friday (the night of my first day of school... such a long day). We all got ready at our dorm and headed out to Shibuya around 10:30pm. We met with my UVM friend Patrick at the Hachiko Statue in Shibuya (that statue is where everybody meets in Shibuya). Walking through the train station was a little odd, we were all spiffed up and at the same time there were people headed home from work. We went with some of our Japanese buddies, so it wasn't just a bunch of clueless gaijin heading into a club. We had no idea what to expect!

silly foreigners waiting for the train



Meeting up with one of our buddies at Shibuya Station

  
The club was insanely packed , super hot, and very smokey. The weird thing was that everyone (except for us gaijin) seemed to all dance in their own personal space, and everyone was facing the same direction. It was almost like we were at a concert and everyone was facing the stage, but there was only a DJ so there wasn't really much to look at. We had a little gaijin dance circle in the back by the speakers.

There were maybe 3 levels in this club, the first one had coin lockers where you could put your things, the second level had a bar and a smoking area, the third level was the dance floor.

We left the club at around 3:30am, headed straight for a vending machine for water because inside the club the prices were ridiculous! We were hot, tired, and the girls (okay, maybe it was just me..) were definitely complaining about their feet hurting.


After we left the club our group split up. Half went home in a taxi, the other half stuck it out for the trains to start up again. We went to a cafe where there were others like us waiting for the trains to start again. There was a man in the booth next to us just snoring away. My friend Patrick and I were super excited about ordering pancakes even though the maple syrup was not from Vermont. They only have Canadian maple syrup here. 

After a night of clubbing all of us that stuck it out for the trains had the ultimate walk of shame. We were gross and probably smelled bad from being so sweaty from all the dancing, in sparkly dresses and heels (although at this point I refused to put mine back on so I was barefoot..) and the other people on the train are clearly headed off to work. This pictures is at Midorigaoka Station (the closest station to my dorm), the sun was rising by the time we finally made it home. It was definitely a fun night but I can't imagine doing it all the time. I don't have the stamina!