I finally did it: Stayed out all night in Nagoya going to (foreigner specific) bars/pubs!
After meeting up with everyone in Sakae (a cool area of downtown Nagoya), we went to an Australian bar called, Red Rock. It was so packed! And packed with foreigners, too! I had to stand half of the time while eating one of the biggest burgers I’ve had in my life. Full for the rest of the night, after that. We had a couple drinks, talked, and then went to a club called, Plastic Factory.
Why is it called Plastic Factory? Well, it used to be an actual plastic factory, but then a few British people decided to buy the space and make it a club that caters to foreigners.
Plastic Factory was SO DEAD by the time we actually found it. Apparently, we had just missed a show. But honestly, there wasn’t more than 20 people in the whole place (including staff) at any one time. However, they played some cool music and had couches that we could rest in. We were already getting tired, and it was only 1am. I must mention how nice everyone was. They closed at 4am, and we asked about any other place we could go while we waited for the trains to start running, again. We kept being redirected from one person to another, each one actually TRYING to help us out, and one eventually drawing a map! Cool. So we headed off, not knowing where we’d actually go.
I swear, that one guy from the Plastic Factory was on some kinda crak. Back at the club, when he was telling us about an upcoming show with Leeroy Thornhill (from The Prodigy fame) DJ’ing, he kept climing all over the table. Granted, he’s British and probably loved the Prodigy more than his own mother – but still. Did I mention he wasn’t wearing any shoes or socks? And he kept making really jerky movements. Maybe he was just on a caffeine high, required to operate all night. I dunno. Nice guy, though.
The streets of Nagoya are very cold at 4am. Still dark. We headed in a direction we hoped was right, but didn’t find any other place to go. Then, two of the owners/staff of the Plastic Factory came riding by on bikes and told us to wait while they found the place for us! Next stop: The Creek. Another British establishment. Everyone at this place had just performed Macbeth earlier in the night, and were hanging out here. How fitting. I really liked this place. It had a bit of medieval feel to it; maybe just from some of the people (including owners) still being in costume (and character, at moments), or maybe from the rough decor. We were very tired. We sat, once again, on couches. More cool music. We drank a little more. One husky guy started talking to us. Turns out, he ALSO owns a place! The foreigner business people in Nagoya have a tight little circle. The Plastic Factory people practically walked us to the door of The Creek, and in The Creek, we meet an owner of The Misfits! This guy was really talkative for 5am in the morning, and quite entertaining. Met a few other people, but were so glad to get out of there and into….
…the sunshine? Yah, as we came out of The Creek, we were greetd by daylight. Strange feeling. 6am – the trains started running, and we were eager to get on them and get some badly needed rest.
I arrived back at the dormitory at 8:30am. I feel I could probably stay awake and go to sleep at a regular time, but I decide to sleep right away. 5:30pm – I wake up. Shoulda set my alarm, I guess. I hope I’m okay at work, tomorrow.