Oct. 29, part 2 - An Evening Back To The 1950's

After having loaded all my gear into the rider house train wagon, I ask if anyone knows a good restaurant nearby. Sure, they say, and they already decided that I, the museum staff and some family go there together. Fine with me, this sort of kidnapping usually turns out good. We ride with the museum owner at the wheel, all of 24 kilometers and f****** 138 turns (counted them on the way back, being too petrified for this on the way out). Iwashita-san makes his living producing parts for Honda and Mazda, with some success apparently, as he has about 500 motorcycles stacked away.

We end up at ‘The Hitparade Club’, a place where people probably don’t come for the buffet, but for the music. Black & white photographs of everybody, from Scarlett o’Hara to the younger Elvis Presley adorn the walls, out compartment lies on Sunset Boulevard, the waiters have greaser hair and the colours are nicely kept in brownish nuances, that I haven’t seen since I traveled in East Germany. Only a modern license plate from Hamburg disturbs the picture a bit, but hey, it’s foreign. We barely manage to finish our food before a band, with two singing girls in old-fashioned skirts, enters the stage, and starts playing 50’s and 60’s rock’n’roll. Had John Travolta and Uma Thurman shown up on the dance floor, I’d have been only mildly surprised.

Fortunately the eight band members actually know what they’re doing. Mixed up with the slightly absurd in having ‘Don’t Be Cruel’ and other classics sung with a Japanese accent or even in the local language, this is very entertaining. Just like in Tepui Bar some weeks ago the Japanese audience is also a lot more fun than a Danish equivalent could ever be on a Sunday night. The dance floor gets filled during the three sets, and as so often before, I see the old and the new Japan all mixed up: The hip-hoppers and people in kimonos and samurai hair style are out there with each other – along with a sole transvestite, and a Dane in leathers – dancing, yelling and clapping. I have a good time with these people.