New Years at Ageha...

So I brought in the New Year at Ageha.
It was my first time there so I didn't know what to expect.
Actually I did know what to expect; long lines and high prices.

I was not disappointed.

Let me show you:
Here's a crappy picture taken with my phone. The entrance gate is just off the picture to the right. If you don't have an advance ticket that's where your line starts. It just goes along that line of trees over to the left and doubles back on itself. The actual entrance to the building is behind the "Absolut Disco" sign. Waiting times of 45 minutes to an hour are not unheard of.


I was lucky. I didn't have an advance ticket, but I was able to procure one outside from some cool Brazilians (thanks guys!) whose friend didn't show up.



So my line was half as long.
Now it was time to find a locker.

Fun.


But then I unknowingly entered the Trini nexus and I went from not seeing or speaking to a Trini in over a month, to getting a call from my mom and meeting a Trini from Diego in the space of 10 minutes. So I went from speaking Japanese to English to "Trini" (I heard one of his friends say "I don't understand a word they're saying.")

The three-stage security check was completed (airport security got nuthin' on Ageha) in a room that looks exactly like this:
Just replace the backwards-speaking midget on the couch with a petite Japanese girl doing pat-downs next to a folding table.

Now you inside Ageha and you probably want to go to the bathroom.








がんばて。(Good luck.)

This is the techno floor.







This is the hip-hop floor





This is the reggae floor. (Of course the smallest, most crowded dancefloor in the club has a pool right in the middle of it. It's like they want you to fall in.) Its also outside...in winter...You don't want to fall in there. Not during winter anyway.

There's also a chill-out room that I couldn't even bother finding.
I had to go to the Ageha wiki page on my cellphone just to know what to look for.

The lines are so long for the drinks (¥700)and food bar that there are machines where you can buy cans of Heineken (¥ (800).

There are lines for those too, of course. At least a ten minute wait at times.

But the thing that struck me the most was how the attitudes differed from room to room:

The reggae floor barely had enough room to breathe, with people threatening to fall into the pool at any minute. I almost fell in and I was in there for a total of about a minute. I know a guy who fell in there was and had to get a new phone.I think one of two things happens;
(1)Someone pushes you in (as was the case with that guy).
(2)There are so many people in the room that you don't see it and walk right into it
(as was almost the case with me)
And, of course, everyone is looking for a crotch or an ass to grind on, resulting in a bit of pushing, scrambling and tension.

The "hip-hop" room (I say "hip-hop" because I really didn't hear any/much real hip-hop in there - just a lot of top 40 rap) was full of thug wannabes trying to act 'hard'.
And, of course, everyone is looking for a crotch or an ass to grind on, resulting in a bit of pushing, scrambling and tension...but at least there's no pool to fall into.

The techno floor was, by far, my favorite. Everyone just dancing and having a good time and no on caring about how much action or play they get, or how good they look. Just people sharing water, gum, mints, whatever they had with each other.
No pushing, scrambling, tension, pool to fall into or temperature in the low teens.

Lots of "Hey, thanks man! I really needed that!" and "Are you ok, dude?". It helped me remember why I like techno crouds more than hip-hop crowds; more real people and fewer posers.

Overall, I had a pretty good time. Even if I did spend more than I wanted to it was worth it for the experience. I probably won't make a habit of it though. It's not really worth going to unless there's a special event, you're spending someone else's money, or you want to be able to say that you've been to Ageha.

"I've been to Ageha. Yaay."