a story from when I was in Tokyo back in May of 2023
Mits was meeting up with Sora and his girlfriend so I was alone for that night. I figured Iād go out and do something interesting so I went down to Yoyogi park and walked around a bit. Around dinner time, I made my way back down to Harajuku. Someone, probably Mits, had recommended me Afuri ramen. While eating, I watched these girls and their family. The girls were all dolled up with lots of makeup. Their eyes also looked really big for Asian girls and I couldnāt help but think that they might have plastic under their skin. But I remember them now because they were speaking Chinese with Taiwanese accents, but spoke to the servers in Japanese.
It was still early so I wandered down towards Shibuya. I stopped by in Tower Records and Nitori. I like Ikea so Nitori was great, well, everything great minus the Swedish meatballs.
A few days before, I had looked for foreigner bars to go to, one of which was Bar Tasuichi so I headed down in that direction. Already, there were loud drunk kids yelling in the street. Itās a standing bar, and I stood at the bar, smoking a pack of Camel berry menthol cigarettes from Vietnam. An African guy came up behind me and asked me for a cigarette. I asked him where he was from and he told me but I canāt remember now. He said his brother had got him a construction job in Japan which he had been working for the last few years. I asked him if he knew Japanese. āJust speaking, no reading and writing, I donāt have time for that, manā he said. He was wearing an Apple Watch so I figured he was doing pretty good. After awhile, he told me he had to leave, so I turned to the other guy next to me also smoking. He looked just like a Japanese Salary man. I told him I was from America, he said his English was bad. We talked a bit using Google Translate about Vietnam, baseball, and Shohei Ohtani. While we chatted, a group of Americans came over to the bar. I heard them speaking English and didnāt think too much of it but the guy closest to me, a bald man with sharp features asked me āWhat are you drinking man?ā.
āIām just having a beerā.
āOh yeah, thatās what Iām about to getā.
His buddy turned to him and laughed, āHis English is better than your Japaneseā.
I smiled because they didnāt know I was a foreigner in disguise. āYeah, thatās because Iām Americanā.
We laughed together and I learned they were American Navy sailors, in Tokyo for a few nights. One of the servers brought over the beers. He wouldnāt believe that I was 20 so he asked to see my ID. He kept asking me āä½ę³?ā and the bald sailor kept asking me āä½ę³?ā as well. I just looked at them blankly like, dude, I canāt speak Japanese.
āYou look younger than 25ā the sailor laughed, āmust be the tucked in pantsā.
I liked his vibe. He was already in his 40ās but he livened the mood in the bar. He kept trying to get girls to dance even though he already had a Japanese girlfriend. After a few drinks, he turned to me and said āDonāt ever let the fire die in you, man. Me, itās starting to go out, but Iām trying to keep it burning for as long as I canā. I hope Iām still the life of the party when Iām 40.
The salary man left and a girl with colorful makeup and her man covered in tattoos and piercings came to replace him. She spoke a bit of English but he didnāt. That didnāt stop bald sailor man. They chatted in Japanese. I could understand a bit, they were talking about tattoo guyās piercings. At some point, I picked out ćć”ćć”ć.
āWhatās it called again in English?ā he asked me.
āPrince Albertā.
Sailor man was asking his new friend if heād ever get a dick piercing. Itās funny watching Japanese people get put in uncomfortable situations but sailor manās vibe was unshakable. Doesnāt feel too uncomfortable if youāre drunk enough.
Soon enough, I finished my drink. I traded my last cigarette to tattoo man for his last cigarette. He had been chain smoking American Spirit menthols and god damn those things were harsh but I couldnāt waste his last cigarette.
As I walked down the street towards the station, I watched a guy piss into a basement doorway as his drunk friends laughed in amazement. Doesnāt feel too uncomfortable if youāre drunk enough.