Sports bars and pubs were big business during the 2002 World Cup Soccer finals cohosted by Japan and South Korea. Many opened in Tokyo just in time to milk the influx of fans. But for the three partners who teamed up to create the Clubhouse in Shinjuku, the soccer was simply a bonus. Their target had been the kick-off of the 1999 Rugby World Cup.
Even so, they opened 1 1/2 years prior to the event so that they could iron out the lumps and bumps that are involved in setting up a new business. The event itself was to be the test of their success. And they passed with flying colors.
All three were resident foreigners -- one Australian, one English and one American. And all three met while playing rugby. Garna Dowling, the Australian, was the one who pulled the Clubhouse team together. He first came to Japan to work in a ski resort in Tochigi Prefecture -- a job for which he was recruited while recovering from a rugby injury back home. A six-week gig has turned into a 10-year stay, a time during which he did more than his fair share of English teaching.