When your out there driving this holiday season, If the police say “Hang Tight”, and give the top of your car a little pat. You going to jail!

Last weekend I had the Perfect Date while on vacation in Tokyo. The lady in question was a friend of a friend. She's tall (for a Japanese woman), beautiful, full of life, knows herself and what she wants. We really resonated with each other. Her confidence, temperament, intelligence, rhythm, presence, everything just clicked with me. I planned the date carefully - the locations, the timing, the flow, my outfit. But then when I executed it, all the details faded into the background for me, and I simply needed to remember where to go next. All that groundwork paid off in that during the actual date everything seemed effortless to me - and hopefully to her as well. Even small hiccups like spilling eggnog on my shoe or not being able to get a cab easily later on made no difference. It felt like sprezzatura expressed as a date. Christmas isn't actually a holiday in Japan, but Japan really does the atmosphere well. We went to a Christmas market in the mid-afternoon, got oriented with each other, and had a good time chatting there. Then in the early evening we went to the Blue Note Place in Ebisu, for a Christmas show by a J-pop performer. Though I didn't know the artist, my date did - but she wasn't aware that was who was playing that evening, so it was a nice surprise for her. The food and music were excellent! After all that we went to a speakeasy bar. The good mood continued to flow along with some amazing cocktails and great conversation. My date was from Kyoto, and spoke the Kansai dialect, which is really honest and direct (and fun). I speak standard (boring) Tokyo Japanese, but I can keep up a conversation in Japanese with almost anyone. It was really fun talking to her! The energy between us was great. The night flew by. When it was time to go, I walked her back to the subway station. The streets were lit up with Christmas lights and the whole scene felt like a movie - just run whatever romantic music you like over it. At the station gate, we shared a long, warm hug. I didn't know when I'd see her again. But I saw her off with a promise to meet each other again whenever I came back to Tokyo. Once I lost sight of her in the crowd, I turned away and walked off into the night. I just felt really good about it all.