Blonde, gorgeous, warm, funny, she also seemed a bit shy. Every guy in the class was in love with her. But although she was friendly, she kept to herself. A Feminist Studies major, she always seemed distracted, pondering some far-off place, and it turned out that she was: Her grandparents' graduation gift was a dream trip to Asia. What followed graduation was a year of adventures on the expatriate circuit.
Alison meditated with the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala; got her nose pierced in Delhi on New Year's Day; had her eyes read by a Tibetan monk; went rock-climbing in the mountains of northern Thailand; made a pilgrimage to Hiroshima. And, for six weeks, she worked as a stripper in one of Tokyo's Seventh Heaven strip clubs. I'd heard that more and more foreign women in Asia are turning to this line of work over the traditional expat employment -- teaching English -- but I was intrigued by the image of Alison taking on this seemingly incompatible job, and by the mundane details of the expat stripper's life.
I asked Alison if she would let me interview her about her six-week stint, and she agreed. Here's her story. I decided I really wanted to live in Japan for a while and visit Kyoto; also I was fascinated with the idea of seeing Hiroshima because that one day in changed all our lives. I wanted to work as a private tutor, to teach English, but I couldn't do that because I didn't have a proper visa.
Stripping was the only job I could get. The first time I danced, I prepared myself by drinking a huge amount, and still I had to be dragged onto the stage -- and then I just froze.
But after a few moments I listened to the music and began to relax. Nobody believed that I hadn't danced before. A guy named Aaron auditioned us. He works at the main Seventh Heaven club in Tokyo. I auditioned with the girl who was my traveling companion. We didn't know what the hell we were doing. Neither one of us had ever been inside a strip club before, or seen a stripper perform. We had a couple vodka and tonics, then we chose our music and we danced. My song was "Careless Whisper" by Wham.
