Enter the words "rock" plus "Shinjuku" into the search engine of Tokyo's communal consciousness, and the result, "Rolling Stone" -- a rock 'n' grot dive of more than 20 years' standing in that neighborhood -- will always come back at the top of the list. Even Eggey, the owner of two hardcore Shinjuku rock lounges -- both simply called Black, with interiors to match -- first asked if I knew of it before settling down to chat with me.
Eggey (top) owner of the two Black bars, run by Gan-chan (middle, manager at the Shinjuku Gyoen branch) and Eijiro who heads up the Kabukicho location JUDE BRAND PHOTOS He seemed wary. But then, it was still early -- barely 10 o'clock on a Saturday night. Both the rock fusion and the gravelly smoker's cough that I could hear as I made my way up the stairs to the Kabukicho Black seemed to underscore the time.