Corporate Goth party in a Tokyo boardroom! A strange themed club, or office meeting?
My Pirates TV production company has been doing well lately, so it was nigh time to celebrate with rum and wenches!
Naomi, Yukiro and I threw a “Corporate Goth Meeting” — our clever way of hosting a drinking party in a central, inexpensive Tokyo space. Read on for the shenanigans, and tips on how you can plan an alternative event like ours.
After wrapping our latest Tokyo TV job, we wanted to host a get-together for our “spooky friends.” But how to throw an epic Goth party at minimal cost?
In Tokyo, this is a special dilemma. People live in small apartments far away, so we couldn’t have an event at someone’s house. We didn’t want to join an existing club night, or meet at a restaurant or bar (too noisy and expensive, and not good for mingling). Renting a private club space would also be much too costly.
The sneaky and slightly subversive solution… We rented a hotel boardroom for three hours, and held a “work meeting!”
In Shinjuku, you can rent business meeting rooms for under $50 an hour. They’re large enough to hold 20-30 “staff members”, and the location is convenient for everyone.
The hotel didn’t question our motives behind the “Corporate Goth Meeting.” But once the doors closed, the work gathering… turned into a drag queen drinking fest.
Our friends (aka employees) showed up in “Business Casual Gothic work clothes” to fit the theme (aka ruse). We did end up discussing important matters, as you can see on the white board.
Everyone brought a little something to eat or drink. This Barbados “Mount Gay” rum was the hit of the evening.
How sweet that many of my “pirates” brought me yuzu (the tangy Japanese citrus), since they know it’s my favorite fruit flavor.
I’m wearing a Nightmare Before Christmas sweater from Rolick, a women’s boutique in Shinjuku Lumine. I’m not a big fan of the current winter collections in Japan, as the materials tend to be scratchy and the designs uninspired. However, I love the Jack Skellington print in this collaboration.
My fuzzy boots are by Liz Lisa.
There are perks to being Captain of the Pirate Ship. You can engage in a little “harassment” here and there…
Everyone got into the theme of the party. It looks like we’re having an animated panel discussion.
In fact, we are a business: La Carmina and the Pirates does Japan TV fixing, local production arranging, translation, on-camera hosting, consulting and more. We’ve worked with Food Network, Travel Channel, Discovery, National Geographic and other networks.
Three shining examples of how to dress Work Goth. It’s possible to abide by an office dress code, while keeping a dark, alt aesthetic.
Yukiro appears to be delivering a corporate takeover speech.
Kanae raises an objection, Phoenix Wright style. (In fact, our friends do work with us — they’re always willing to lend a hand with projects, and appear on our TV shows.)
Naomi brought portable speakers, and played Gothic MIDI tunes. The boardroom space was perfect: everyone could mingle freely, and chat without being drowned out by music.
We even had a nice view of Kabukicho. The only problem with the room… was that Seby thought the lights were too bright!
Maybe we need to upgrade our employees’ cell phones. (This is Yukiro’s ancient iPhone 3.)
Thankfully, none of the people at the hotel disturbed our meeting. If they walked in unexpectedly, I think they would be very confused.
We munched on Caro’s haunted gingerbread, made by hand.
The cookies go well with mocha and vodka, apparently.
My hair flower clips are handmade by Angelica Brigade. Remember when I wore them in this Ice Queen photoshoot?
Naomi does a presentation about capital gains and losses. Or something like that.
There’s always a lady in the office who gets a bit scandalous after a few drinks..
At our events, someone always ends up being tortured (in this case, stomped on).
The motto of the evening: “Be there or be fired!”
We gave out an Employee of the Month award to David, who was also celebrating his birthday.
In addition to the bloody delicious cake, you can see how much there was to imbibe.
Yukiro and Remiko show how eating should be done.
And this t-shirt says it all. What do you think of our out-of-the-box idea for renting a cheap and central event space? I think we’ve created an alternative to alternative parties!
Cheers to my Japan Pirate crew. My ship would have run aground long ago, without you crazy kids.
Would you throw a “business meeting” like ours? Do you dress Corporate Gothic when you go to work?
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LA CARMINA
30 Comments
This. Is. Amazing..
Love them!
xoxox
I´m not satisfied with these meeting only taking place once a year. I will take that up on our next meeting as the main issue! ;)
Muahahah you bet!
OMG, I am soooo sorry I wasn’t in Tokyo for this! ( ; _ ; ) Everybody looks AMAZING! Next time I’m flying in for sure!
Yes next time!!!
That looks so fabulous
The cake was good and so was eating it with Yukiro. ;)
YES
Someday
I will be at the next meeting! (o^^o)
Just happy I’m not fired :P
ahah
That cake was so perfect…….
What a fabulous idea!!! (And I do in fact dress that way when I’m at my day-job – they haven’t sacked me so far!)
Yayyy
yeah!
really awesome
rrr
Amazing!
♡♡♡
<3
for the WIN
So sweet
<3
Awww, Basil. What did they done do to ya, baby? LOL.
Maoo. hahha
What about a party in a love hotel next time? :D
Lol insane, I would love to be there xD
xoxoxox