Alexander's

You know the Decadance parties I told you about? -- This time the theme is dolls.

Once per month there is a crazy party going on in Tokyo. It's organized by a group of French guys, is always at a different location and always has a different theme. People dress up crazy and go out the whole night to dance and have fun.

So what does a doll look like? Not so easy to answer -- if you are a guy that is.

I bought two different pairs of high stockings -- in a women underwear store[^1] -- grabbed white 3/4 pants, a pink T-Shirt with a cute comice figure and visited the girl living next door to put on some heavy makeup and help me out with the final touches of the outfit.[^2] Then I jumped into a subway full of normally dressed Japanese to ride 30 minutes through half the city.

The pricing system is very easy -- 3500 Yen, 3000 with a flyer and 2500 if dressed to the occasion.

I pay the full entrance fee and not the one for dressed up people -- I'm not complaining I'm not dressed up -- considering the people I'm in line with I'm wearing plain street cloth.

The people are just crazily dressed. Not your average fancy Harajuku guys and gals, that attract hordes of tourists every day, no these people are dressed even better, with more love for the details and less concern for others.

After six unrestrained hours of fun the evening ends and I slowly fight my way outside. Misty rain and bright sunlight awaits me. The cool air rips me out of my trance and into the harsh reality. I feel exhausted and tired, my eyes hurt and my makeup is running down my face in streams of sweat and rainwater.

The first steps feel funny -- unreal.

Still sorrounded by the people from the club, who now seem strangly out of place in the modern sunlight streets of Tokyo. The people from the club get less and less while more and more business man cross my path. I see only one girl from the club in my train and I start to feel like the idiot I'm dressed.

When I arrive at my station it's raining hard and by the time I arrive home I'm soaking wet, cold and completely tired. It was an interesting experience to be sure, but I'm not sure if I want to visit the next party. There just is such a thing as too excessive.

As a final note I have to say, that you can make fun of my outfit all you want. I at least was one of the few males that was dressed as a male! Plus the evening was totally worth all the fun you could possibly make of me.

As so often more photos are on Flickr, but please remember this is only a selection! And it was not easy to take photos. Autofocus was out of question[^3], I didn't want to use flash and for the really interesting things other people got in my way.

[^1]: I could write a whole blog post about going in a women underwear store in Japan to buy high stockings [^2]: Like the cute necklace or the big red Kimono--bow I was wearing on my back [^3]: The club was too dark most of the time and everybody was moving too erratic

Amongst the Universities in Tokyo the one that I like best so far is definitely 慶應義塾大学 (Keio University) or just 慶應 Keio for short. Founded in 1858 it's the oldest and one of the most renowned university in Japan. While I obviously can't speak about the research, the Keio events I've been to are one of the most fun ever. While at the 東大 (Todai) it's always about winning, being better and achieving something -- even at the fun events -- the Keio events were always just for fun.

This weekend I was invited to a rowing race in Saitama (30 minutes from Tokyo) and it promised to be great right from the start.

Invited to participate in the race, I assembled four foreigners from 東大 (Todai) and wrote a mail:

My team consists of:
Elias -- descendant of the proud Vikings. Best known for their ruthless raids with their longships.
Jonas (hopefully) -- just as Elias a proud Noreseman. His sight alone is sure to strike fear in the hearts of our enemies!
Martin -- descendant of the babarians that stood with valour against Cesars armies.
Me -- well I grew up at a lake.

As an extra plus all (but me) are blond and have (more or less) blue eyes.[^1]
So I'm very confident, that we will be able to seize the price of the campion

We called our team Viking and decided to show them that rowing gets passed down with the genes and that Barbarian blood was still pumping through our veins.

Your team seems to be so strong! I heard that the prise of champion is splendid.
I want you to aim at the top!

Honestly who am I to refuse a cute girl?

Sadly Jonas could not escape his professor, but we found splendid replacement.

In the end we behaved like the barbarians that we are, were cheered along by cute girls, had lots of fun and even made it to the semifinals.[^2]

Fotos of the event can be seen on my Flickr page.

[^1]: ok let's face it Martin has brown eyes, but honestly who cares? [^2]: Since we have absolutely no skill what so ever, we obviously scared the other competitors enough to yield.

I want to go out with you tomorrow Alexander -- Let's go pick up girls!

Honestly I don't want to go out that much this weekend. I have to finish reports, I'll go and drink a few beers with a friend on Saturday and before I forget there also is the photo exhibition, we have the "Open Lab Day" and a French delegation is visiting and I'm the designated photographer -- Oh did I mention this is in addition to the usual lab work?

Ten Minutes later they discover a new toy -- Bijin-Tokei[^1] and someone mentions a special calender, that shows new (clothed) girl every day. So for the next 20 minutes the lab schedule just got booked solid. Everyone is swooning over the pretty girls. Those girls even come with the all important background information, like a short biography, blood type age, measurements, educational background[^2] The average lab meeting has a worse attendance record, than the discovery of a picture of a good looking girl -- preferably in a swimsuit.

Isn't there an option to set a webpage as the desktop background?

Yes apparently there is and suddenly everyone sits infront of their PC, busily changing the desktop background. After all this is Japan and the conformity reaches even places like the choice of the desktop background.

Wow check out the girl from the 18th! She is the best!
No number 27 is even better -- she practiced classical ballett for 12 years.
University? Bloodtype?
Wow she is 155cm tall.
...

Today when I walked in the room, I was greeted by one of the assistant professors:

Alex did you see the bijin tokei? Yes Do you know there also is an iPhone application for it?

No I did not, but honestly pay 3 Euros just for some pretty girls that show the time? Luckily the resources pertaining legal sites that show pretty japanese girls seem to be endless here.

Try UNIQLOCK. It's an advertisement, but the girls are pretty cute.

Turns out they not only have pictures, but whole videos and the UNIQLOCK for the iPhone is not only fun to watch in boring lab meetings, but also free and with music! And for all of you, who still don't have enough here is the link to bijo-gyomi (the calender I was writing about)

Yes I can already tell it will be interesting to return home and find back in a European lifestyle after a year here in Japan.

[^1]: Pretty girl's clock [^2]: Educational background is her nearly as important as blood type or breast size and while breast size only comes in two flavours -- none and nearly none -- blood type leaves you with an amazing four choices