Happy New Year!!

Its 2007, crazy eh?

Well this new year was really wild because I welcomed it in at one of the biggest parties in Japan.

Me and a friend, Julia, headed over to this massive club called Ageha near Shinkiba station (about a half hour from Shinjuku station on the Rinkei line). I'll tell you all about it...

We headed out to Shinjuku Station from Kofu on this posh bus (yay for reclining seats!) and arrived around 8:30pm.

Shinjuku is a crazy land of neon lights and a constant buzz of activity. After I grabbed a chicken Donair (yum!) and a can of chuhai (which is a mixed alcholic drink that comes in various fruit flavors - i got grapefruit). we headed out to Shinkiba station.

Soon after exiting the station we saw "THE" line...people stretched as far as we could see- down a street and over a bridge until finallythey reached the distant club.

Oh dear, we ended up hanging out for over an hour in that line. I tried my best to entertain (aka annoy) those around me by singing songs from The Sound of Music (what, they are so damn catchy!) and doing random dances.

Finally we got into the club at 11am. The first room we got in was packed with people and on a stage there were various Japanese girls wearing nothing but victorian corsets, fishnets and a few tutus thrown in for good measure. In the next room (which was big enough to park the airplane I arrived to Japan in) was filled with people dancing away to house music.

Me and Julia got our booties shaking. At some point I had a group of really friendly Japanese people surround me, dancing in a circle and cheering me on with loud cries of - "her name is Grace! She's from Vancouver!" woot - blonde hair gives me instant celebrity status!!

Then a giant countodown clock apeared projected on a screen above us dancers....only 30 minutes! Then it was 20..10...5...finally 1!! The place was so packed and the energy so high! I was so giddy - here i was in Tokyo (one of the coolest cities in the world, I must say) bringing in new years in the biggest club in the city! Crazy!

So, ya, the final countdown came, which was really wild, because everyone was counting down in Japanese - Shi, Ni, Ichi - HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! Confetti and balloons falling , people screaming, taking pictures, hugging random people!!

So ya, it was a great night. From there various highlight were:-

a. eating yummy piping hot miso soup outside the club at 3am (they had wonderful stands of food outside to energize us dancers).
b. me yelling (after I was grabbed, one too many times, by various Japanese men): "STOP TOUCHING ME! JUST MAKE LOVE TO THE MUSIC!!" haha
c. standing in line for 30 minutes to use the bathroom and for the first time looking around and realizing how Tokyo truly at the forefront of fashion (i watched as a group of guys and girls passed by dressed like mod teens from the 60s and soon after watched a girl pass by in a short black dress that balooned out of her like a giant compfy pillow).
d. watching at 4am as a Dj by the name of Dr. Shingo (which means "Dr Traffic light" in Japanese...go figure) got on the stage and with a voice like Bob Marley started singing this song called "Be the Love Generation". The whole place just lit up with positive energy.
e. Totally letting go at 5:30 AM and dancing a wild crazy dance on a balcony positioned high above a sea of dancers.

good times! I hope you all had a great New Years as well. I send you lots of my love and good vibes as we start another crazy year *hugs*