Kimonos and Drag Queens
Saturday after work I headed downtown with the other interns to explore. The main shopping drag is a covered pedestrian walkway that spans many blocks. Nachan was at her french lessons so we met at Starbucks at 6.
Now, I was dressed in a sweatshirt and jeans so you can imagine how surprised I was to see her dressed in a Kimono.
Off we went to Lion Coffee – a small coffee shop with a wall covered in music with a Jamaican theme. They were playing Bob Marley.
Nachan’s friend, Tereo-san, was there. He spoke English well so it was interesting to chat with him. He told me we were going to a party at a gay bar. I told him that was fine, but was wondering if maybe I could change first as I was feeling quite underdressed. He taught me to say “I am dressed like a bum” in Japanese so off we went to Nachan’s house for me to change.
An hour later we returned to Lion Coffee, and me, Nachan, Tereo-san (who is about 50) and his girlfriend Shato (who is about 20) left to Chicky Chicky Snaku. We sat at the bar, were served little snacks and my glass of sho-chu was kept full. Now, keep in mind “bars” in japan are tiny. Maybe the size of my bedroom at home. So not so many people.
I noticed some of the women looked a little, well, less woman-ish than normal. And given that it was a “gay bar”, and that they had adam’s apples, I began to wonder.
Well, at 9:00, the lights went off and a disco ball started spinning. Nachan said to me “Show time” and next thing I knew I was treated to a 30 minute Japanese drag queen show. It was wicked! Better than my birthday last year. And because the bar was tiny totally upclose and personal. There were fans, and singing and whips… Sugoi! (that means cool)
After the show, the group of us moved to another bar. With another drag queen who was singing karaoke.
Japan ski-desu.