The Decadance Bar, Shinjuku, partying with kooky gothic friends

I think it’s about time I shared my party pics from the first fabulous weekend in Tokyo, when I attended the Decadance Bar for Seileen night. I wrote about the Decadance Bar here, but for the first time I got to actually experience it!!

It was as colourful as I imagined…

though possibly smaller, and with more penises everywhere!! Coco didn’t seem to mind…

The best part was catching up with old friends:

I’m here with Sisen and Selia of Seileen

With G-Sus, Sayaka and Tara. I first met G-Sus at Walpurgis back in March/April, but we chat like old friends now. Tara I met LAST March, in ’09, so it was great to catch up with her again too. Sayaka is a new friend – you make ’em all the time here!

With Shin, Kenny and Tara. Kenny is the “Mr Steampunk” of the Tokyo scene, and often sports fabulously coloured hair, like myself 🙂

BTW, I’m wearing Black Milk skeleton leggings, Deadlygirlz corset, red ruffled skirt from GeoMythik, and white ribcage necklace from MissX.

On the left, I’m seated on the colourful lounge with Jab. Midnight Mess Maya was on the decks for some of the night.

And how could I forget the barperson with the mostest, Kengo? Endlessly entertaining, this one!

And some of the other lovely patrons…like these girls..and La Carmina!

We were so busy chatting to our various friends and partying, that we didn’t get a single photo together this time!! Next time, Gadget…

This time around I did video a fair bit of Shinjuku streets, nightlife and parties…ya just gotta wait for me to upload and edit it all 🙂

After Tokyo Dark Castle

Another post from March 09 – after pulling an all-nighter at Tokyo Dark Castle, I stumble into the light and interview people…

Bear in mind we’ve been drinking for 6 or 7 hours, and it’s 6am. So we’re drunk and silly 🙂 I’m with Utarou and Miki from Baal, Nao – singer from deathrock band 13th Moon, Sisen, assorted TDC regulars and Chihiro in the background.

Miki has a touching message at the end for Dom, Karl & Amelia, saying “we need you back in Japan”. Aww…


After Tokyo Dark Castle
http://mediaservices.myspace.com/services/media/embed.aspx/m=55586512,t=1,mt=video
trashtastika | MySpace Video

If that doesn’t work on your pc, here’s the link:
Chatting with Nao & Sisen after Tokyo Dark Castle

And here’s the link to the Harajuku one, where we walk down Takeshita Street and meet Sisen at Takuya Angel.

Harajuku
http://mediaservices.myspace.com/services/media/embed.aspx/m=55592113,t=1,mt=video
trashtastika | MySpace Video

Exciting new Tokyo bar – the Decadance Bar!

Lacking colour in your life??
Now there’s a place you can go…and it’s not ‘Cheers’.

Last week a very cool bar opened in Tokyo – the Decadance Bar!!!

OK, no surprises for guessing this is affiliated with the amazing Tokyo Decadance club…and is therefore in the Christon Cafe, Shinjuku.

Courtesy of DJ Sisen, G-suS, and the Decadance Bar blog, we have lots of info about this exciting event.
Instead of waiting once a month for the Decadance party, you now can go ANY NIGHT OF THE WEEK!!  A-a-a-a-a-a-a-n-n-n-d…your fave Decadance celebs are there tending bar for you! (even Adrien will be there – swooon) So you can stalk themogle Coco…er, chat with them 🙂
Monday: 6PM – 11PM (CoCo)

Tuesday: 6PM – 11PM (Poruko)
Wednesday: 6PM – 11PM (SiSeN)
Thursday: 6PM – 4AM (Poruko)
Friday: 6PM – 4AM (SiSeN)
Saturday: 11PM – 4AM (Poruko)
Sunday: 6PM – 11PM (SiSeN)

1 Drink costs 500yen (1 Ticket). The food menu varies.
You can buy two different types of “Ticket Packages”:
2 Tickets for -> 1000 yen, or
7 Tickets for -> 3000 yen! (Cheap for Japan’s standards!)

Just look at the yummy drinks on the menu! There’s Chuhai for the hardcore, or shouchu for me.

As for what you can expect there, in Sisen’s words..

The atmosphere of the Bar is mysterious…and magical. You can enjoy delicious drinks & food, play some cool videogames, watch movies, dress up in costumes…Just a place to ENJOY and have FUN, for EVERYONE!

This will definitely become a venue for visiting gaijin, a tick on their must-do list, along with seeing cosplayers on the bridge at Harajuku, and Elvises in the park.

It’s great for those of us who love to dress up, cos now we can go to a place anytime, and not feel like freaks!! It’s in a great central place…and just around the corner from the Golden Gai, which is one of my fave drinking areas in Shinjuku.  The bar is on level 9 of the building, with entry on level 8.

Check out the many pictures on the blog to get an idea of the atmosphere, but here’s a few:

Hula hooping competitions and hot chicks!

Wanna be served by a Stepford Wife?
Look at those tongues!
There’s a definite blue theme going on here….I like it! Check out the dessert!!
G-suS and Sisen getting down
Does my bow look big in this?
and the whole gang together
(All pics taken from the blog)

 
I’ve always enjoyed the colour and creativity of the TD parties – the photo in my banner was actually taken at the Tokyo Decadance Halloween Party last year. This bar likewise is obviously a fun place to be, and I know I’ll be there first night I’m back in Tokyo. 

Put it on your itinerary too!

Nude n’ Rude! Gothic & Punk store in Koenji, Tokyo

I love going to new places and discovering cool stores. It’s not every day you see a gasmasked, purple-wigged mannequin clad in hot pink PVC, clutching a fetish magazine and a whip, is it? No, me neither. But here it is, in the heart of Koenji – the store Nude n’ Rude.

 A cursory look at the shop windows reveals a place that is definitely out of the norm.
(Click on the pics to see them bigger and in more detail)
The teal-haired, large bosomed mannequin in the window beckons you in…
Stepping inside, we see racks of brightly coloured dresses, shirts, boots and skirts, as well as studded collars and other jewellery.
My, how I wanted that Horrorpops t-shirt (as I’m a big fan) but I resisted.
Nude & Rude stocks a lot of western fetish & gothic magazines, along with fetish paraphernalia – collars, cuffs, boots, ballgags…
Your eyes are drawn inexorably to the graffitti’d wall..and to the chandelier above
before flitting from one colourful object to another: plates, furry claws (a la Sisen), rubber ducks, fancy dress items, to leopard dresses, bags and shoes once again.
It’s colourful chaos, and I love it.
The name brands are all here: Lip Service (the US gothic one, not the Shibuya gal label), Iron Fist, Demonia/Pleaser, Kreepsville 666, Sourpuss clothing, Leg Avenue, Rockin’ Bones…you name it!
If you are after the same brands we have in Australia/US/UK, and the same style of goth and punk gear, then this shop, Hellcatpunks and Sexpot Revenge are the stores for you. Funnily enough, they are my friends Akie and Utarou’s fave stores too.
There is, however, far more colour here than in their western counterparts. Eye-popping pinks and vivid greens sear your retinas as your synapses fire wildly and your brainmeats explode.
We chatted to the store manager Lilian and learned that Plastikhaar/Ukiyo 5 is now being stocked there! Furthermore, Sara Hochuli was coming to town in a few days and they were throwing her a party, hosted by Akie.
Some fuzzy pics from the party follow; the usual goth suspects attended. Below is Lilian in the pink & green hair, Akie and Sisen.
Sarah with the shopgirls, Sisen eating cake
John (Comte de Sang), Michael and G-sus
But back to the store and my first visit there. I can tell you I was pretty darned impressed. But we had to leave sometime, and as we do and I take a last look back from outside, I spy the Siouxsie t-shirt – damned cool.
Meanwhile Akie rebels against the fascists trying to keep her down, by smoking in a no smoking zone, hehe… My friends are awesome 🙂
(Not that I approve of smoking, mind. “It’s not big and it’s not clever”, as someone’s mum used to say. Not mine, as she was a chain-smoker from way back and put me off the things for life!…but I digress)
For even more pics, see the entry on Nude n’ Rude in Tokyo Shop Style, on the Style Arena website.

Nude n’ Rude
http://ameblo.jp/nude-n-rude/
1F 4-9-8 koenji-minami, suginami-ku, Tokyo
Map here
TEL:6314-1517
Business Hours:12:00 – 21:00

Plastikhaar/Ukiyo5 blog

Club Walpurgis – dark alternative Gothic night in Tokyo. Sisen, 13th Moon, Bella Lune.

Last Saturday night was Club Walpurgis, at Aoiheya in Shibuya.

It definitely had the character of a goth club back home – but it was much smaller. The music was authentically goth and deathrock (with a few exceptions with regards to other 80’s music), and while the decor was dark, the atmosphere was great. The main thing other than the music was the chance to catch up with the “Usual Suspects”.   

Such as Sisen (I don’t do V fingers for just anyone, you know).
Sisen is off back to the US in Aprl, then to Russia in May with the Tokyo Decadance crew – busy boy!
And the gorgeous Akie. Perhaps I’m wondering where I put my drink…
My lovely friend Naohira (yes, of 13th Moon)
And Michael, here with Akie and Sisen (yep, that’s an Angelspit shirt)
And I met new friends such as Setsura – she organises and performs at events such as the upcoming Komm Zu Mir, on April 17 – a Gothic/Fetish/Theatrical night with Buto.

There were also some members of US group Bella Lune, Fuchsia and Hurley, who were really nice, and who are playing at Midnight Mess this Saturday night.

I met quite a few new great people, but left my camera in the bag as the beers started flowing so have no new photos to regale you with this time. But the various peeps will be at Midnight Mess this Saturday night, I’m sure, as will my camera…