Tokyo pt 6 - Para Para Tokyo! 東京のパラパラ！

More from our Tokyo Trip! Next Stop - Roppongi! 食事後、六本木へ行った！

Actually one of my more eccentric interests in Japanese pop culture is the Para Para Dance phenonmenon. ...around 2000 or so this was a big dance craze in Japan, particularly amongst the ' Gyaru' types, who are mistakenly all lumped into the ' Ganguro' label (Japanese subcultures get very complicated).　僕は日本に住んでいた時クラブよく行った、一番好きなクラブイベントはパラパラでした、前の方が人気けど、日本のクラブまだ見える。先週末友達とクラブで見つけた！楽しかった！

For those who don't know, Para Para dancing is a dance style comprised mostly of choreographed arm waving, usually done in synch with other people as a group... to super fast electronic dance music.

Here's an example:

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd3JaSAfnfY(外国友達為にの説明ビデオです）。

The phenomenon has lost popularity over the last few years and morphed into the 'Euro-trance' dance scene,  but especially amongst the old schoolers,  para para dance will never die.  While living in Japan a few years back some friends introduced me to the scene and I found it to be amazingly bizarre and entertaining.

So I was quite pleased when we found a club in Tokyo on Friday night that had some para para going on in the back room.  The music was good, the people were friendly and fun and  it was a lot of fun watching Pat and Mai try their hand at the Para Para.... 　パット君と舞ちゃんはパラパラもしてみた、如何ですか？上手？

To somewhat mixed results:

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LG0tUMm1934 ok, as you can see, he got better as the night went on... 

(i thought it was supposed to be synchronized?)

シンクロじゃないか？

Obviously Pat's got a long way to go... especially if he wants to dethrone the Para Para Charisma Master, Takuya Kimura! パット君頑張れなければならないよ！パラパラカリスママスター木村 拓哉まだ一番です： Bonus - A photo we took at an intermediate stage:

東京のクラブ楽しかった！