Real Estate

In Japan bars and restaurants are small and depending on where you sit can have a huge impact on your social evening. That's the type of real estate I'm talking about here. Not the illegal Air B&B kind that everyone keeps jumping on and suddenly acts like they're a real estate mogul. I'm talking about an even more important kind, a real estate that can make or break your whole night or even your whole life, the place where you sit.

Let's take a look at the scenario:

You enter a a crowded bar. There are no seats. Standing room only. You push through the crowed to get yourself a drink. You're there standing and you take a look around . Two girls sit by the door, no other seats around. Three girls sit at the back table and two girls at the bar. Five on your left and two to your right, dudes all around. Which way do you go? A seat opens up, closer to the left side. You take it.

Now your sitting next to a guy who has already put his claws in the two at the bar, and you can't position yourself to strike up a conversation with the girl's at the table. Now the girls by the door are too far and the guy next to you is acting like you doesn't understand the rules to Uno and when you try to help out everyone ignores you.


It's sounds a little like high school, but it's not a popularity contest, or is it? The more handsome people do win first, then the most drunk until five o'clock in the morning when everyone has gone home. The last man standing strikes again. 

Then some new girls show up and you do the gentlemanly thing and give up your seat. Now most people are so drunk that it's easier to jump into or start conversations. It also makes it easier to bump into each other and rub shoulders with strangers which also makes it easier to move around. So why aren't we drunk all the time? Health, that's right.

It's like this in most places around the city. The people in your closest vicinity are the people your going to be talking to for awhile. So you have to make split second decisions or get very lucky. You don't want to be stuck next to someone with nothing to say, like me.

What happens when the bar isn't crowded? Well then you have to summon the strength of a thousand men and forget your fear of rejection and go for it. Because your going to need that strength to fight off the thousand guys who also want to strike gold.

What a wicked game we all play.