合同コンパ

There is this article on Gokon, or in Japanese, it would be 合コン which is the short-form of my entry title. Anyway, it is a dating game whereby there will be two organisers (one guy and one gal) who know each other and they plan a party by inviting friends (generally the guy will invite other guys and the gal will invite her gal friends) to have preferably equal number of guys and gals at the dinner table.

It usually begins with self-introduction and then, if it is planned appropriately, there will be someone funny who can carry on to generate the right atmosphere to laugh, to eat, to drink (usually held in an 居酒屋) and to have fun. It usually doesn't just end with the party at the 居酒屋 but karaoke as the second-round. If the person seems nice, it is normal to exchange phone numbers for 'further development'.

Since it is essentially a dating game, the organiser has got to plan well. Both the guys and the gals should invite friends who are of different characters: cool guy, funny guy, good-looking guy, strong in alcohol guy, geek and petite gal, funny gal, outgoing gal, shy gal, ... just not any overlapping. Reason? Everyone has a different preference.

After the first hour or so, gals will likely go to the washroom together and guys too, will find a way to re-org. Strategise to see who favour who to prevent the low economy of scale. And if two or more guys like the same gal ~ there's always the trusty 'Scissors, Paper, Stone' or ジャンケン

And of course, guys tend to pay more during such events, perhaps two-thirds of the bill.

I had been invited before and had gone for such Gokons, I mean, there aren't many 'Japanese-looking foreigners' around as a character. And was it fun? No, it's not. And the reason can be rather simple.

Well, one should not hold such high expectation of finding a diamond among the straw. Yes, miracle happens and it may be your lucky day to find a really nice and unattached person who simply go for Gokon because the buddy begs him/her to. But it comes once in a blue moon and one usually has to go through the whole sack of straw before finding that diamond.

Next, Guys, this is competition. When first impression counts, and when you invite your friends and all tend to fancy the same cute gal, there goes the embarrassing secrets/or rumours that you don't want anyone to know. 'This guy just got dumped yesterday!!!', 'He's still a Mama's boy!!!' They don't have to be true, but the damage is great.

And then, gals don't play fair. The organiser gets to make the decision on whom to invite. And not many are gracious enough to invite friends who are prettier than them (logical and simple). With that, you need to ask a looker to organise with you to have some possibility of a surprise. And hey, let's be realistic, if someone is good-looking, smart and speaks well, he/she is likely to be taken.

Yeah, I admit that there must be something wrong with me with the reasoning above.

Yups, that's an overview of Gokon from a person who had been there and had done just that. Perhaps, the Singapore version would be slightly different. As for me, I'm not that interested to go. I'm waiting for the lightning to strike, a chance when I'm totally swept off my feet - I'm sorry if it sounds gross LOL