Last night Rob was playing another Secret Secret gig, at Head Power, Shinjuku, this time. When I arrived there was band on stage performing some of the most disposable europop I’ve ever heard, the kind of music you’d expect the Need To Know guys to fantasize about while they’re pretending to be cool listening to Atari Teenage Riot. Thankfully they were nearly finished by the time I arrived.
Rob was up next, with another set of synth sounds and great vocals – the stage was emptier this time, with just Rob and a keyboardist, an excuse for him to run around some more. This music is a little pedestrian for my taste, for live shows I prefer livelier stuff, but it would make great listening at home.
Then a band matching my image of JPop, cute young girl with wayward bunches and stupid-huge grin bouncing around to keyboards, shouting and shooting the audience with a toy gun. I retire to the bar for this, since it gets a little repetitive after the third verse.
The evening rounds off with Soyez Project, who are very much my thing, they’re pop but there industrial. They’ve learned most of their tricks from Sigue Sigue Sputnik, except they should put the cute girl at the front. Laser glasses, wearable electronics, keyboardist answering the phone halfway through the set. “Welcome to the 21st century, so glad you made it”
After the music was over there was a plan to go find some food, I waited around finding random Americans to talk to while everyone packed up and got themselves sorted out.
We headed upstairs to what looked like a small British pubs backroom, where we were welcomed by a seemingly nice old Japanese guy. Some of the Japanese girls we were with refused to come into the place, so we had to make our excuses and leave. Down the road a little to Jonathans Restaurant and Coffee. I’ve passed many of these places, they’ve always had a sinister ambience. Now I know why.
The menu is a bit hit and miss – its got pictures and katakana which I can nearly make out, so I play safe and order salad, BLT and chips, at least one of those will be eatable. The breakfast menu is demanded, making the waitresses wary of us (as if they weren’t already wary of three longhair gaijin guys with three Japanese girls).
My four dishes turn up (I accidentally ordered salad set meal and a salad), and we get conversing about the state of America, what its like to return home having lived in Tokyo, the history of JGoth, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Reassuringly I find I understand most of Robs Japanese – I find it difficult to keep up with the locals and more difficult to say anything particularly comprehensible yet, but I’m starting feel like it is possible I’ll understand something before I leave this country.
The restaurant is populated by various lone individuals here for the free coffee refills, dug in for the long night until the trains start again, surrounding themselves with their course revision, their books or just their loneliness.
Its 230am by the time I remember that I was tired already and have to be in work today, so I head off home abandoning everyone else to the pleasures of Shinjuku nightlife.