<The report on Konkatsu party, a dating event by Shiro-kuma-ko, a baby polar bear>
“I realized that it wasn’t anybody’s fault that things did not work out but in fact it lied on my side.” concluded Shiro-kumako after the previous Konkatsu party, the marriage hunting. And I , Shiro-kumako began to think that the Konkatsu party was not the place to be at in the first place.
I need to start something new to change tide.
As for I do not open up heart easily to others, it may be clever to change tide by putting something new to my life.
“So what shall I start” wonders Shiro-kumako.
“Shall I go to gym, play tennis, engage in marine sports or play golf?”
On the second thought why not start take lessons in English conversation. It is always nice to improve skills and feel good when accomplished. Meanwhile one of my friend came up to me with information on Gaitomo, the International Konkatsu party.
■Gaitomo literary means “non-Japanese” friends
Gaitomo is an organization which manages to run “new type” of International events for Japanese men and women who are not confident in speaking English and non-Japanese men and women who speak Japanese. (In case you think “what’s new about that !”, don’t bother.)
What’s different about Gaitomo party from other international parties is that it welcomes Japanese people who do not speak English at all.
At other international parties, it is usual that attendees speak English. It doesn’t matter whether you are fluent or not.
They are for people who wish to speak English at the party. Many of them turn out to be enthusiastic men and women who are taking lessons in English conversation presently. Whereas at Gaitomo International Party they ask you to speak Japanese with non-Japanese and non-Japanese will speak in Japanese.
I liked the idea of giving people a chance to speak Japanese at an international party very much. Moreover as I was thinking of starting lessons in English conversations, I thought it would be a great opportunity to get acquainted with non-Japanese whom I never run into in everyday life.
So I decided to go to the Gaitomo party with my friend.
So how did it go?
I will tell you in the following pages.
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■”You look young!”said the receptionist. Should I be delighted or disgusted?
The party I attended this time was only for singles.
Haven’t I almost given up marriage hunting? Although I was fed up with marriage hunting at that time, I still selected “party for singles”. I guess I was still believing that I could find my sweetheart at the party deep in my mind.
Anyway the party was held at Aoyama, very fashionable quarter in Tokyo. I arrived the location early but did not have a courage to enter the venue. I looked around and felt very uneasy. All I saw was stylish people walking on the pavement.
I wandered around for a while but finally decided to enter the building.
I went up the staircase. Then the door appeared so I walked through the door and another staircase appeared.
This time the stairs were going down. Very weird building structure thought I. At the end of the staircase I saw the reception desk with a sign of Gaitomo party. At the reception I told that I have booked for today’s party and paid 3000 yen as a fee.
For anybody interested in participating in case, entry fee for Japanese male was 4500 yen, for Japanese female 3000 yen, and for non-Japanese male and female 2000 yen.
I was about to leave the reception desk but then the receptionist stopped me.
“Please show me your ID.” said the receptionist.
I was the only woman who was asked for ID at the reception. Yes, they wanted to make sure that I was above 20 years old.
※In case of men who claimed the fee for 2000 yen they were asked to show their ID to avoid cheating nationality.
For Christ sake, why only me?
You might say “Don’t humblebrag, You just want to boast that you don’t look old, don’t you? ”
No, not at all !! Not with me.
People around me would think that I look young meaning childish in this case. They would probably talk in my back. “Gee she looks so childish with her baby face. Why is she here? ” shrugging. You know how I felt in the middle of stylish people.
I was soooo embarrassed.
Above all this time it happened at an international party. Generally speaking Japanese look younger than their age.
But the problem was that it wasn’t non-Japanese who thought I was under 20. It was the receptionist, one of a few Japanese who thought I was underage and asked for ID. So then what would non-Japanese think how old I was.
Sweet sixteen maybe? Forget it. No chance for hooking marriage partner this time again for sure.
On the top of that the way I dressed very casual, no sexy open-decor outfit or high heels. I must have looked young like a high school kid with my casual wardrobe. You might wonder “If you don’t want to look young why did you wear clothes you’d look younger in the first place?” Let me explain. I tell you at many of Konkatsu party, men prefer girls in kawaii(cute), casual outfit in very sweet taste. Men usually sit next to girls in a cute wardrobe but hesitate to talk to woman who is mature for her age in my experience. I guess it was a bit different this time,though.
During the party I was asked “Are you uh a student? ” couple times. How I regretted that I should have dressed in the more mature-look outfit, so that I would at least look my age. Around me I saw beautiful mature-looking ladies attending the party.
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■Atmosphere was like that of a publication launch party
After I have checked in at the reception I entered the venue. There were lots of people in the venue though it was only 15 min. after the party had commenced.
As I looked around the venue the most of the attendees were non-Japanese men. Then comes Japanese women. Only a few Japanese men were there. Apparently there weren’t any non-Japanese women.
By the way I was curious about non-Japanese man who looked like Santa-Claus sitting in the corner of the room.
It was a party for singles. Was he there to find the partner as well?
Anyway let me describe the overview roughly. All foods and drinks were included in the fee so you could get as much as you wished without paying extras. As you may have seen pictures on the official website, there were several high bar tables located in the center of the venue. Sofa situated alongside the wall. In the rear the curtain separated the room into small private spaces with a sofa and a coffee table. (It was like a VIP room)
Only problem was that Shiro-kumako and her friend fetched the drinks all right but could not get close to the food.
There were so many people in the venue to get close to the food table.
Well, to tell you the truth Gaitomo party was one of the typical party nothing else. It was a bit difficult to categorize it a Konkatsu party, dating event.
Overwhelmed by the glittering gorgeous scene of the party, Shiro-kumako and her friend, too shy to actively talk to anybody at the venue,
sat in the sofa in the corner of the room, trembling.
At the venue I saw stylish non-Japanese men and beautiful Japanese women chatting pleasantly with his hand holding
the drink something alcohol. You need a courage to join the conversation.
In the meantime a few men came up and talked to us who had been sitting quiet in the sofa in the corner of the room.
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■Apparently most of the attendees spoke Japanese fluently.
A few non-Japanese men came up to talk to Shiro-kumako and her friend at the party. Most of times they asked us “Onamae wa?(What is your name?), “Gakusei? (a student?) or Shakaijin?(working?) “Nani-shite-runo?” (What do you do?) in Japanese. So we could communicate at ease, though we were still nervous.
Later I found out that people overseas (mostly Europe and the U.S.) do not really concern about ages. Not even that asking ages of opposite sex is considered not polite. Good that I didn’t ask ages at the party.
We enjoyed pleasant conversation until an “intruder” interrupted us.
The intruder said “Me, I am Kikokushijo”. (multilingual who had lived abroad) Everybody else was speaking in Japanese but this Kikokushijo kept talking to non-Japanese men in English.
Noooooo way !!!!
We have had fun time talking with non-Japanese men in Japanese until this multilingual man joined our gathering. I really wanted this intruder to go away and wished that he would leave us alone. After all he just wanted to show off that he could speak fluent English.
He turned everyone off and people around us scattered away except Kikokushijo.
Since then non-Japanese men who came to talk to us started to talk in English because Kikokushijo kept on talking in English. Poor little Shirokuma-ko, a baby polar bear froze and could not react appropriately as they started to talk in English. After a word or two in English they shrugged and left us.
Though I don’t blame Kikokushijo for that because at most of the international parties, people communicate in English.
He probably got mixed up with other international parties where many of Japanese men and women attend to learn English through communicating with native English speakers. It is rare to find international parties in Japanese language anyway.
Nobody else was to be blamed on except me, if I could only speak English a little more…. No, no, the negative thinking again, my bad habit.
■Feedback
Even at the usual Konkatsu party the buffet-style party tires me out. I was almost worn out at end the Gaitomo party so my friend and I left the party early. Nonetheless I thought attending Gaitomo party was a good experience for me.
My conclusion is that the Gaitomo party is a kind of the party to get acquainted with people regardless of their nationalities. So it wasn’t really a dating event although I have reported as one of the Konkatsu parties.
It was interesting to meet people whom I would never run into.
Had never thought of an international marriage.
But now if I have a chance I would marry …..
It is not relevent topic to talk about but in case you do not know.
A crazy man overseas planned a seminar to recommend indecent assault degrading Japanese womenwas topic of the day recently. So please keep in mind there are some people who possess intolerable prejudices. (They are just crazy.)
※People at the Gaitomo party was none of that kind. They were all gentlemen.
Regardless of nationality, the more you meet people, the higher the possibility of running into the people with their crazy ideas anyway.
At any rate if you are stuck with Konkatsu, marriage hunting, it may be a good idea to have a totally different point of view.
Start something new, maybe?
For now Shiro-kuma-ko wishes to start something new.
Take lessons to start with perhaps.
I don’t know what but it will do something better to my ordinary days.
We’ll see. ;-
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