Let's see if I can keep this one to 5000 words or less :P

Overview

Monday night, Tokyo. Went out by myself to 3 different bars. Encountered two noteworthy sets. Got three numbers: 1 solid, 1 obstacle, 1 questionable. No same-day.

Bar #1

My usual haunt. Rolled in around 8:00pm, ordered a drink and chatted with the staff. I scanned the place and saw several girls, none cute. I sat down by myself at a table with empty seats around to wait for girls to come in. I nursed my beer for a long time and nothing came. I opted not to open any of the people there. I just sat quietly waiting. (1)

At around 10:00pm I finally left the bar. Nothing memorable had happened.

** Bar #2**

A new place. On the way in, I decided to switch gears and open the first set I saw. Followed the 3-second rule and opened a table of 3 girls near the door. "Cheers girls, happy Monday!" Smiles all around and I do a short routine about Monday being my favorite day of the week (all bullshit of course). I go to get my drink and see another table with two girls. One is extremely beautiful and the other is average (2).

I bring my beer over and open with something situational that I don't remember. As I talk I keep my eyes on the average one, telling stories and getting laughs. I'm standing and they are sitting on high seats, so as I face the friend I'm shoulder to shoulder with the beautiful one. Occasionally when I'm asking a question or something, I turn my head to make close eye contact with the beautiful girl, smile and maintain eye contact while she answers, then turn back away and kino. I keep this up for a long time and eventually the beautiful one is leaning into me and playing with her hair while the other one is telling me her life story. At around midnight the conversation hits a high note and the bar is going to close soon, so I tell the girls I'll hang out with them again soon, and eject. I had already number-closed them both in the course of the conversation. (3)

** Bar #3**

This place has dance music, a disco ball, and the lights are low but it's too cramped for dancing. Once again, 3-second rule and I open the first set I see: 2 girls at a table. They had their bitch shields on high. They started out by ignoring me completely. Finally they warmed up after about a minute of me just plowing through. (4) They were not cute so eventually I moved on without getting their numbers.

Here I saw that a 4-set with 2 guys and 2 girls nestled way back in the far corner of the place just became a 2-set. The guys apparently got blown out. There was no smooth way to get back there, since I'd have to wind through a maze of empty tables and they'd see me coming a mile away. But oh well, I put on a big dumb grin and did it anyway. I opened with my "Happy monday!" bit again, and one of the two girls was absolutely not having it. She had just brushed off those other two, and she was determined to get rid of me as well. Luckily the other one was slightly more receptive. They were both very beautiful and well-dressed. The angle I took was to be really, really happy and optimistic and just plow right through the one girl's hate. The girls were entertained by my antics, and eventually the obstacle warmed up a tiny fraction and told me her name (which I've forgotten), and that was my cue to get the other girl's number (5). As the girl was putting her number in my phone, the lights came up and the place was closing, so we all went out.

All in all, I got numbers from two very beautiful girls (6) and one friendly obstacle.

Thoughts

(1): It's a matter of preference, but I personally do not like to "warm up" by opening plain or ugly girls, or guys. I find getting stuck in sets like that to be more draining than anything else. I'd rather play it like a moray eel and just lurk patiently, waiting for the good prey to come by. If I'm gaming with a wingman, I do think it's better to open whatever's around just so you look social and not knit together, but in general I think it's sometimes good to just sit and wait, and see what comes along.

(2): I found out later that the beautiful one is a model. As in, an actual professional full-time model. She had a very beautiful face and an amazing rack for a Japanese girl, but was a tad bit thick around the waist and thighs for my taste. Some guys like that, but I prefer the anemic, sickly type myself. No denying that the girl is a knockout, though, and I'm happy with the way this set played out. She's going to Singapore for a shoot this weekend but I got a good indicators that she might be willing to meet up again after that.

(3): Facebook is just now making it big in Japan, and most girls have just recently signed up. If you mention it, girls are generally eager to find new friends to add. This leads to a number close easily because you both have your phones out.

(4): I find the trick here is to just not look perturbed, stay happy and energetic, and keep chatting away. The turning point this time came when I noticed that I have the exact same iPhone case as one of the girls. I bought a bright pink iPhone case expressly for this purpose. Not a single night on the town goes by without me finding at least one girl with the same case as me. Instant opener that never fails.

(5): When the guardian gave me her name and shook my hand, then laughed at the joke I made, she had given tacit permission for her friend to give me her number. That was not her intention, but that's how it played out.

(6): The last girl is on a different provider than me and Japan uses pop3 for phones instead of MMS, so usually when you "number close" you actually get the number and email. This time I only got her number, though. So I can't text her. I'll call her up in a few days and see if she remembers me.