Motorcycle Man
...written on 10.08.01, @ 1:41 a.m.
Tales of Kim's Life in Japan
Sun October 7, 2001
A shadow crossed the doorway into our private tatami dining room in the Japanese restaurant. I looked up at the man standing there as he greeted Yoko-chin and my eyes bugged out of my head. I watched with my mouth agape in a widemouthed smile as the man made his way around the long table that could seat up to 20 people and took the cushion on the floor next to me. I looked across the table at Ivan and just started laughing robustly. Ivan returned my sentiment. Luckily, it was noisy enough that my outburst went unnoticed. I didn't mean to be rude, it's just that the man made a huge impact on me and I didn't know how to handle it.
I mean, there I was, eating a radish salad, drinking tea, and I look up and see a 33 year old man dressed in jeans covered with leather chaps and a black leather jacket over a frayed jean vest and a t-shirt with the sleeves rolled up for a sleeveless look, wearing body armor on his arms and legs and carrying a motorcycle helmet. His long hair was pulled back in a ponytail exposing a double piercing in his left ear. My first impression was that the guy looked like a gladiator!
After a while, I reached over and made tentative knocks on the armor that covered his right leg and knee and Hiroshi said "Hello?" each time I made contact, as if I was knocking on the door of his house. I was enthralled with his outfit. I guess I haven't seen anything like it since I've been in Japan. I read all the patches on his jacket and pointed one out that said 'Purina Chow' to John and Ivan. I slipped my hand underneath the jacket to pull it up and noticed a knife hanging on his belt.
At one point in the evening, I noticed him struggling to get out of his jacket and armor and I grabbed onto his sleeve and helped him free his arm. He was making exaggerated moans of delight as I twisted and pulled at his clothes. I heard John say to Ivan that I was very red in the face and it's true. I felt like I was burning. His uniqueness greatly appealed to me.
During dinner, the 3 men on the end, Yoko-chin, Takashi-kun, and Hiroshi (Motorcycle Man) were playing a game where they weren't allowed to speak any English. They had to use Japanese words for everything and if they goofed up, they had to guzzle a glass of beer. Ivan, Akari and I joined as well and had fun pointing out when one of them said "Biru" (beer), "checku" (check) or "desaato" (dessert). They ended up having to reinvent the game of baseball with a whole new vocabulary.
After dinner ($500 for 11 people), we all piled out and went to our next stop, a karaoke snack where we ate sliced pears, salty seafood and peanuts, chocolate and my favorite, kyoho grapes (see Best Laid Plans), and sang and danced the night away.
My fascination with Motorcycle Man continued as I watched him dance like I've never seen a Japanese man dance. Grrrowwl. All that leather, armor and body English was getting to me, so I got up to dance with him and as I was just about to slip into his personal space and start dancing, another woman in our party cut in front of me and usurped my desired spot. I turned to John who had witnessed the entire episode and we both laughed ourselves silly until I felt a poke on my shoulder and turned to see the vital spot had been vacated, so I commenced dancing with Hiroshi until the song was over.
Now some of you may know that I don't drink alcohol, so I was in complete control of my faculties at all times. My co-partiers however had been imbibing freely. There is an unwritten rule in Japan, that one can go out and party with friends and co-workers, act loopy, sing badly, call their boss names to his face, fondle the barmaid, and all will be forgotten in the morning. I wasn't sure that this would apply to me since I hadn't been drinking, but I committed the following lechery anyway:
As I sat at the table, I grabbed a big, fat, juicy kyoho grape and gave it a good sexy lick in front of one of the loaded male guests. He screamed as I ran my tongue around the head of the grape, gave him a quick wink and then mashed the grape with my teeth and lips (Remember the scene in Polanski's "Tess" when Tess bites into a big juicy strawberry?). Takashi then hastily grabbed the bowl of remaining grapes and sat next to me and begged me to eat one after another while he writhed in ecstasy and even asked to eat half of the grape I bit into. Not something I usually engage in, but hey, it was harmless fun.
By 9:30 we were saying good-bye (and paying another $500 bill). We had started our party at 5 pm and most of us had to work tomorrow. I had a lot of fun. It was great to feel the rush of attraction and play with it.