maybe i should write a book...

...about working as a hostess / show dancer at a tranny club in japan.

i'm pretty sure i'd be the first one to do it.

oh, and hello again. i'm alive :D

writing more

now i don't really like double posting.

but it may come to that.


my japanese blog has been getting a lot of love and attention from me since i started it in december (17 posts already), while tanuki talk's posts have been short and somewhat infrequent.

if i were to double post (repost english versions of japanese blog updates) that would make this place feel a little less lonely.

but it's a pain.

and there are some things i'd rather deal with and think about in japanese. or maybe that's bullshit and i'm just talking nonsense. it is past my bedtime...


no. it's a no.

with apologies to those of you who can't read japanese, i'm just gonna keep things fluid, which means keeping the blog posts mutually exclusive.

but!

i do want to write on here more.

let's brainstorm some potential topics to write on:

cars. what? why? nevermind. next.

food. that's a safe one i guess. recipes? dining out? ooo, maybe i could do a nagoya cuisine special!

fashion. i'm definitely an idiot when it comes to styles and fashion. so maybe i could research and write about it as a learning tool for myself?

transgender issues. an obvious one, yes. but it's something i know a lot about and can write a lot about.

ok. good enough for now.

bed time!

sami the klutz

so i happen to be a really big klutz.

i broke a glass pitcher at work today.
i'm in a constant state of almost falling over when i wear heels.
and i do this:

all those cuts on my legs? they're from the opposite foot's heel. when navigating narrow walkways, stepping over things, or even when sitting down and standing up i get cut by my heels. (T__T)

maybe it was a bad idea to start with 4-inch heels. (^_^;)

none of your business cards

i got my business cards today :D

tada!

i'm a little sad it only has my english name (my japanese name is written as "永瀬 サミー"). and that i chose red lipstick. it's a bit much, considering how much they whitened my skin. (^o^) but overall, i'm happy with the result.


work is going well. i feel like i'm starting to get the hang of things. and it's getting easier to walk in heels. pretty soon i'll be a total pro (^-^)

until next time!

~sami

transitional employment

because of my new hostess job, i had to quit my part-time gig at the café last week.

it was hard to leave. though i only started that job 4 months ago, i've had a lot of fond memories there.

i made new friends (mostly coworkers), drank and served a lot of coffee, talked to tons of people, played around with gender expression, acted as receptionist, and helped put together a cocktail party.

oh, and sometimes i cooked things.

or baked:

it was a nice four months. and it was exactly what i needed.

sayonara, MER (my english room)!

the career change i never imagined

on saturday i started a new job as a hostess at a tranny "show pub".

maybe you've never heard of this type of establishment before, or maybe you're wondering if i'm sex worker?

so let me clear up any confusion.


the place:

i'm not sure what to compare it to because i've never been to a place like this before.

the pub floor is a large room with a bunch of tables. the seating all faces the stage area, which includes the far end of the room and a runway that extends through the middle of the pub floor.

at each table there's a simple bar with whiskey, shochu, and hennessy along with water, tea, and ice.

there are several shows each night (though the content doesn't change much). the shows are a series of dance numbers, ranging from sexy to cute, and shocking to hilarious.

the job:

the hostesses dance in the shows. in heels (eek!). the dance numbers included a girl's generation k-pop dance, a gangnam style parody, and an akb48 dance, to name a few.

having only worked one day so far, i don't do the dancing yet. but they introduce me as the new girl at the end of each show.

in between shows, we sit with the customers, have a chat, pour their drinks, and light their cigarettes. the conversations go in a lot of directions, but one common topic is transsexuality (childhood, coming out, surgeries, etc.).

and the customers aren't exclusively men. about 20% were women last time.


that's the basics of it anyway. one part dancing, one part hostessing, and one part looking pretty.

here's me after my 8-hour shift (i got home at 4:15am!):

orchiectomy: part 5 - surgery & the aftermath

i'm alive!

i went into the clinic yesterday just before 3pm. i gave the receptionist a signed consent form and forked out the cash (¥105000) for the surgery. she then gave me the meds i'd be taking after surgery (an antibiotic, an anti-inflammatory, and some pain pills).

then i went into an examination room, had my blood pressure taken, and stripped down before being led into the operating room. on the operating table the doctor gave me a gas mask to administer the anesthetic. it tasted (smelled?) awful.

and the next moment i heard someone say the surgery was over. i was lying in the same position, my mouth was full of gross-tasting saliva, and i couldn't move any part my body. i successful gurgled out the word つば ("tsuba" - saliva), and the doctor gave me a tissue to spit into. somehow i rolled off the operating table onto a stretcher bed and was wheeled off to another room.

in said other room, i slowly regained the ability to move my limbs, and i drifted in and out of sleep for the next hour and a half. then around 6pm my friend showed up, and we took a cab back. i felt a little sore, so i was walking pretty gingerly at that point.

my roommate went out and got me oden (yummy boiled food in broth, eaten with mustard), and after some light tv watching, i went to bed around 9pm.

on day two i felt a lot more swollen and sore. it's the kind of feeling you have about shortly after getting kicked in the groin—that vague, throbbing lower-abdominal pain. the meds helped a bit. i stayed inside all day, mostly just watching dexter and sleeping. and now i'm about to go to bed. hopefully.

let's hope day three shows some improvement!