It has been a couple weeks since my last update -- the gap was due to having all of my mid terms and projects to do. However, now that those are all taken care of the updates should start being a little more frequent (plus the weather here is starting to be very nice which means I'll be more inclined to go explore).

I think I'll start this post off with this youtube video of the club I went to last night: Club Atom



I'm pretty sure this video explains everything you want to know about the club, so here is a bit more color on my night.

Last night I found myself with two options: Option 1: Stay home and relax // watch tv. Option 2: Go to Club Atom. I left my fate in the hands of a 500 yen coin (the traditional Kevin & Keith "damn, we can't make a decision" method). As the fates would have it, the coin came up heads which was the "go to Club Atom" side. Unlike last time at Womb, I didn't get very dressed up at all. I threw on my classic Have Heart tee, some jeans, and my sambas, grabbed some cash and was off.

The train ride into Tokyo was pretty boring, but I did make a couple observations about my fellow 11:30pm passengers. It was a pretty clear split between drunk salaryman and kids going out to party. All of the salarymen were asleep while the party-goers were sending out text messages as fast as their fingers could type them. Even though I was on the last train into Shibuya it was so packed I had to stand... I guess this shouldn't be too big of a surprise since it was Saturday night. When I got off the train in Shibuya I headed straight for the club.

Shibuya is so incredibly lively that I can't really convey it into words. Once I turned down the street that Atom is on I knew it was going to be a crazy night. There were probably 60-70 people all standing outside of the club. While waiting to get inside I met an english ex-pat named Kris who is here teaching at some university. He was on his way out of the club right next to Atom, and when asked how it was he pretty explicitly stated, "It was shit mate.. definitely stick to Atom." After this brief chat I got in the que, and readied my ID and $$$ for the cover. Again, unlike the seedy clubs in Roppongi, you have to show ID at the door to get in (20 and older). Cover is $10 before 11, and goes up to $30 after that; you also get 1 free drink if you're a guy and I believe 2 if you're a girl. There are lockers on the first floor, but they get filled up pretty quick. Once you get up to the club (it's on the 4th floor) there is a guy who will check your coat for $5.

Once I checked my coat I started working my way to the dance floor. It was just as packed as the video makes it look. From the front of the dance floor all the way back to the bar it was super crowded. Since I wasn't there to get drunk I just headed straight to the dance floor.

I have to say that the DJs here absolutely fantastic. There were 4 that rotated throughout the night. I think they did 30ish minute sets 3x each. I believe it is these same 4 DJs every weekend, which is not a bad thing at all as they were freaking fantastic; they got the crowd involved, had a huge variety of trance/house/hardstyle/etc., and did an overall great job adding to the experience. DJ Hosaka is probably my favorite as he played a lot of vocal trance + house mixes of rock n'roll. During his first set, he opened up with a crazy mix of Nirvana's "Smells like teen spirit" which caused the crowed to go nuts. This was followed by "Sweet Child O'Mine" which I had never heard turned into a trance tune before, but damn was it awesome. I ended up singing the song to this Japanese girl I was dancing with. There were probably another 15 rock songs that I sang along to as well. The Japanese got a kick out of watching me rock out - I even encouraged this group of Japanese to sing along with me -- hilariousness. I should also note that out of probably 1,500 people I was 1 of 4 foreigners, which is great.

At the end of the night all four DJs came out and autographed some CDs and tossed them out into the crowd  which I thought was pretty cool. Definitely going back.