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May 21, 2024
 

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BEST BAR NONE

Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Oct 26, 2007
Horseplay rife at Roppongi bar
I have been seeking out Tokyo's best bars long enough to have accumulated a fair-sized database on the subject. Even so, for the best part of a decade, a search with the keywords safe + sane + fun + Roppongi have turned up zero results. By safe I mean you don't have to watch your purse. By sane I mean...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Sep 28, 2007
The beat goes On in Shimokitazawa
Shimokitazawa is a magnet for young musicians in Tokyo. Virtually every other kid you pass on the street totes a guitar, and it sometimes seems like half the bars — big and small — are equipped for staging live music.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Aug 24, 2007
Drinking down Azabu-Juban's heart
Azabu-Juban may be changing superficially at street level, located as it is in a valley behind the plush residential/ commercial complex Roppongi Hills, but the best of what's on offer there is still to be found behind closed doors — doors that can at first appear a bit daunting to open.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Jul 27, 2007
A lounge bar for the people
One of Naka-Meguro's best features is the Meguro River. And though, like most of Tokyo's inner-city waterways, its riverbed has been concreted to aid with storm drainage, the banks are topped with cobbled walkways and planted with mile upon mile of cherry trees. The blossoms are breathtaking when in...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Jun 22, 2007
Duck Rock rides a new club wave
In the late 1970s, a club called Tsubaki House opened on the fifth floor of an office building on the southwest corner of Yasukuni and Meiji streets in Shinjuku. At a time when disco was still the rage, Tsubaki House was one of the few venues in Tokyo doing something different.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
May 25, 2007
Sangenjaya's warm afterglow
Astrophysicists may bicker over whether the universe is exploding or imploding, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that in the microcosmic world of Tokyo, expansion is the overriding force at work. Proof of this would be clearly visible from space — especially at night — as...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Apr 27, 2007
A little R&R for cosplay casualties
Cosplay has become an integral part of Japan's booming manga culture. The term generally refers to the practice of dressing up like your favorite pop-culture icon or a character from an animation or comic; think of a Trekkie convention, but with an even wider range of outfits to choose from. A quick...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Feb 23, 2007
Put on your red shoes and dance
In December 1981, a small bar named Red Shoes opened in the basement of a building next to the bus stop near Nishi-Azabu crossing. Though only a stone's throw from what is now a busy intersection, in those days as soon as the sun went down the area was deserted. In terms of partying, Roppongi was the...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Dec 22, 2006
Go the whole hog this New Year's
It's almost time to whoosh your tush to the tunes of world-class DJs as we welcome in another new year. Next up in the Chinese zodiac's menagerie is the wild boar, or inoshishi, as it is known natively in Japan. The boar is best characterized by the single-minded determination and speed with which it...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Nov 24, 2006
Rooms with a top-class view
Mado Lounge sits on the 52nd floor of the Mori Tower Building in the Roppongi Hills complex. As the last stop at the top of the structure, it is a fitting location for the building's official City View attraction. For 1,500 yen, a whisper-quiet elevator smoothly whisks you to the top in less than a minute,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Oct 27, 2006
In the cool shade of the Maple Leaf
A pub is a pub, and a sports bar is a sports bar -- or so you might think. In fact, these watering holes come in subtle shades of cultural preference. All conveniently bear the bold colors of a national flag somewhere on the premises for ease of reference. No prizes for guessing which one you will find...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Sep 22, 2006
Sounds and surrounds of high rank
Cyril Roy is a natural-born barman. Like any professional, he makes it look easy. When he arrived in Japan six years ago, Tokyo's pub culture was bloated with English- and Irish-styled establishments serving classic and micro-brewed quaffs on tap. But Roy landed squarely on his feet, within a month,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Aug 25, 2006
Gattaca, a utopia of good selections
Baar Gattaca is reasonably easy to find -- thanks to the blaring red banners of the bar next door. But, just to avoid confusion, the entrance is immediately to the right of this garish splash of red -- straight down the stairs to the basement. There, you will see the bar's name on the door and the tag...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Jul 28, 2006
Endorphin II gets the juices flowing
As any decent dictionary published after 1980 will tell you, an endorphin is "any of a group of peptide hormones that bind to opiate receptors and are found mainly in the brain. Endorphins reduce the sensation of pain and affect emotions." In other words, they make you feel good.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Jun 23, 2006
Here for your a muse ment
Though Roppongi is party central for most foreigners, Shibuya has, in the course of the last 10 years or so, emerged as a brave new challenger for the title. Even foreigners have come around to the upstart, which was originally put on the party map by a new breed of then young and restless Japanese revelers,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
May 26, 2006
Rock 'n' grot in the crypt
Welcome to Furanken-no-Hanayome, a freaky, style-y, junk-filled lair for insomniac rockers and creep show freaks. I thought I knew all the weird rock 'n' grot bars in Tokyo, but this one somehow managed to slip under my radar undetected -- and has managed to do so for the past 10 years.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Apr 28, 2006
A rockin' party out of bounds
Jiyugaoka is still one of the preferred residential and shopping areas for the well-heeled spawn of Tokyo's old-school money. By day, fancy patisseries with French names and sleek fashion boutiques cater to young ladies from well-to-do families out browsing for tea and cakes or designer clothes. By night,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Mar 24, 2006
Chic 'n' sweet and right on the bull's eye
For many commuters, Yoyogi-Uehara is simply the name of a station at which they change for an express train home. It is also the kind of upmarket address which, if you live there, means you have arrived.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Feb 24, 2006
A guide for doing the Nakameguro stroll
Naka-Meguro is one express stop southwest of Shibuya on the Tokyu Toyoko Line. And, like its one-stop counterparts on other commuter lines, the shopping streets closest to the station tend to attract a high concentration of eateries and bars all vying for your post-work cash. But like anywhere in Tokyo,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Jan 27, 2006
New blood flows in city's heart
While Shibuya is becoming a boomtown for bars aimed at the young and casual, one small area -- right at its heart -- has been a hot spot for more than half a century.
Rare sequel to 'My Neighbor Totoro' to play at Cannes
A screening of "Mei and the Baby Cat Bus," which is being billed as a "mini-sequel" to the Studio Ghibli classic "My Neighbor Totoro," is set to take place at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday.
America wasn’t made for walking, and it’s killing them
A 2010 study found that U.S. adults averaged 5,117 steps daily and that this was lower than the averages found in similar studies in Switzerland, western Australia and Japan.
Fuchu Prison adapting to foreign prisoners
From the outside, the light-brown complex that is Fuchu Prison in western Tokyo could easily be mistaken for a city hall.
Why half of Japan's cities are at risk of disappearing in 100 years
A couple looks out onto the Fukuoka nightscape. Due to its distance from Tokyo and its close proximity to South Korea and China, professor Tomoya Mori believes that Fukuoka is one of the few metropolitan regions of Japan that will see some form of growth in the decades to come.
Japan concerned over U.S. officials' remarks on atomic bombings
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham speaks to reporters during a news conference in Washington on Thursday.
Fuchu Prison adapting to foreign prisoners
From the outside, the light-brown complex that is Fuchu Prison in western Tokyo could easily be mistaken for a city hall.
The politicians moving Japan forward on climate
While not the most outspoken politician on the issue, digital minister Taro Kono has a track record of being serious in his commitment to addressing the climate crisis.
Seoul's eclectic Art OnO shines light on Japan's artists and galleries
Art OnO, which took place from April 19 to 21 in Seoul, featured a modest number of 36 participating galleries from 15 countries.
Want to be a voice actor? Stay 'true to the character'
SungWon Cho is a veteran with more than 10 years of experience portraying characters in anime, cartoons and video games.
Local theater in Japan is more than a hobby — it’s a community
Japan Times contributor Laura Pollacco (front right) was offered the role of one of her all-time favorite heroines, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Bennet, in the Tokyo International Players’ production of “Pride and Prejudice.”

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