I enjoyed my butadon in the company of a pair of drunk Japanese businessmen and then set off to find the capsule hotel that I recalled staying at last year. The hotel is in the heart of the clubbing and party district in Osaka and lo and behold, on a Friday night, whom do I bump into but four gaijin (foreigners) out looking for a party. They invited me to join them and, after putting up a token resistance, I entered their fellowship.

They were all English teachers at Nova. Two from Canada, one from the United States, and one from England. One of them, frustrated with the continuous company of English teachers, took a particular liking to me. The thing with English teachers in foreign (i.e. non-English) countries is that often their only qualification in life is that they speak English. If they could do another task well, they would do that at home instead of moving away to teach English.

This one particular friend I made, Michael, was so thrilled when he received his first affirmative response to the question "you know who Dostoevsky is right?" that he bought me drinks all night and offered to let me stay at his place! We were in the bar until about 7:00 am when the bartender politely suggested we finish.

The next day, after leaving Michael's place, I phoned one of my Japanese friends, Yokote, who said he would be in Osaka on the 1st. When I reached him, he was an hour away from Osaka and we agreed to meet. Perfect timing!

We poked around Shinsaibashi and Nihombashi until nightfall at which point we naturally headed for a dance club. We were in the mood for Hip Hop and Hip Hop we found. We went to a club called Azure after much searching and hesitation. Our efforts were well rewarded as the club was busy, but not crowded, the DJs amazing, and the floor populated with good dancers. Around 7:00 we turned in to stay at a nearby capsule hotel. The "5 hour pack" was only 2000 yen and the facilities great. We had to make sure to set our alarms!

The next day was filled with more poking around until we met up with Yokote's university tennis team friends. They told me that before, Yokote was only interested in tennis. Since he met me, he's only interested in clubbing! I apologized. We went to an izakaya and made merry, Japanese style, until the middle of the night. From then, more clubbing!

We settled on a club called Grand Cafe. I had actually been there last year on a less busy night. This night they were playing reggae and the place was rather packed. Now I do not know what happened, but the crowd was going absolutely crazy. In Japanese dance clubs, the clubs patronized mostly by locals as opposed to the foreigner oriented clubs such as the quizically named chain "Bar Isn't It", people arrange themselves almost in lines, all facing the DJ and, with varying degrees of rhythm, sway or bounce in time to the music. That is what it was like when we arrived, but when we left, the scene more closely resembled the pit at a Canadian rock concert with the partygoers crashing into each other, hugging, smiling and jumping all over. I like to think we, especially Yokotes energetic friends, had something to do with it.

Those guys sure know how to party! I was, to say the least, surprised to find out that none of them had ever been to a dance club before. Perhaps there is a natural relationship between tennis and partying. I think I have some more converts!