The Golden Gai's best known bar is La Jetée, a cosy hang out for filmmakers, photographers and their kin since the graceful Tomoyo Kawai, a former film distributor, opened for business 27 years ago. Looking around at the hand-painted "bottle-keeps" (Kawai's customers like to add an artistic touch to their personal whiskey bottles) that line the shelves and the film posters that cover the walls, a photo of Francis Ford Coppola sitting at the Jetée counter stands out. While Coppola makes only sporadic appearances, Kawai numbers Juliette Binoche, Chris Marker - director of La Jetée, the 1962 film classic after which the bar was named - and Wim Wenders among the clientele; or should that be "friends". La Jetée was immortalized when Wim Wenders shot a few scenes in the bar for his docu-pic, Tokyo-Ga. A self-confessed Tokyophile, the director describes La Jetée as his favorite bar in the city.
Written Dec 30, 2011
Address: 1-1-8 Kabukicho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Website: http://www.lajetee.net
If you are looking for a Gaijin (Western expats) bar, here is the place. It was one of the ist few bars with foreigners clienteles. Many view this place alittle sleezy being perceived as a pick up place.
If you come across a table of Japanese ladies sitting by themselves with a glass of cocktails staring into blank space, they are most likely to be your target. Why? Think about it, if they were just there for drinks, they would have chat among themselves and not focus into the crowd. Obviously those ladies have finished their chat long ago and waiting for their chance now.
Dress Code: No slippers definitely.
Updated Apr 4, 2011
Phone: 5474-4605
Yes I know what you are thinking of. Can they be more original than having a similar name and naming it the 2nd?
This is the sister bar of Motown House 1. Its probably opened to cater to the huge influx of foreigners. I personally prefer Motown 2 to 1 as the decor is classier and air is fresher. Nice collection of music mainly spinning the 60s and black music. You can even make a dedication.
Updated Apr 4, 2011
Address: Roppongi Plaza B1F 3-12-6 Roppongi Minato-Ku
Phone: 5474-2931
Let me start with a warning:
Look out for drink spiking when you go to Roppongi bars!
Here is my story:
We went to Tokyo with three guys for new year. Later the night we explored Roppongi and were brought to a small bar by one of those many black guys. We had some drinks and the next thing I remember is that we sat in the corner of the bar with terrible headaches and our wallets gone! Me and one of my friends had our credit cards in the wallet which were completely emptyfied as we had to learn some days later!!
We asked in the bar what happened, no answer. We went to the police told them about the bar, no reaction. Just recorded the loss of our wallets.
We even know the name of the place, A-point, in the third floor above a Kebab restaurant.
In the embassy we learned that we got drink spiked, which seems to happen rather often in Roppongi, especially in those small bars driven by the black guys out on the street. The embassy is even having a warning on their webpage
Updated Dec 11, 2010
Address: 3f floor,right on top of the turkish kebab restaur
These bars are all over Tokyo especially the main areas. They are an imitation English pub chain which is fairly reasonably priced both for drinks and food with a considerable selection of both.
They are good for the new person to tokyo as they provide a familar setting with the staff speaking english and a considerable amount of foreigners going there. If you are there longer than a vacation they do a good loyalty/discount card scheme, the happy hour is well worth it especially the pints of long island ice tea at 1/2 price. You usually get to meet an interesting amount of people and the one in roppongi is one of the cheaper places to drink. My favourite ones in central toky were the ones in Shibuya.
Dress Code: Anything but you got alot of english teachers in them so you may see a lot of people in shirts and ties.
Updated Oct 19, 2008
Address: many locations shibuya, shinjuku, roppongi etc
If you find yourself in Shimbashi area just under the JR train line station is a small step in bar. Happy hour is 4PM to 7PM and the beer is 300 yen. The normal beer price is 500 so it is a good savings. The clintel varies depending on the day and the busiest time are Thursday and Friday night. Very small bar and they have a DJ on the weekend.
Dress Code: Casual dress
Updated Jan 23, 2008
Address: 2-17-29 nshimbashi, minatocu, tokyo
Phone: 03 5537 2571
Website: www.celebrity-cf.com
Now it can get rather pricey when drinking in Tokyo and so it worth checking out the times of the Happy Hours in the local bars. If you’re lucky you should be able to do a crawl to take advantage of the discounts available.
Gaspanic was one of the bars we frequented. It was a bar that had rather strange signs all over the place, one of which said "Everybody must be drinking to stay inside Gaspanic". Now I don't know whether or not the locals just come in any hang about not drinking, but we certainly needed no excuse for constant drinking!
Dress Code: Casual
Written Jul 24, 2005
Address: 3-15-24 Roppongi
Weird. We came across this club in our guidebook and chose it cos I thought it sounded rather cool. We had great difficulty finding it - most of the locals we asked were unable to guide us and the buildings didn't seem to be annexed in consecutive numbers. Eventually we came across it rather accidentally. The club was rather inconspicuous, and was located in a basement. It looked kind of shady and the guy at the door looked pretty stoned out, but we were brave and paid our cover charge anyway... Turned out to be completely deserted! This was a Friday nite at about 11pm, 2002. Given the club's reputation according to online sources, this was truly weird. We were the only ones sitting there... til about half an hr later when 3 girls came in and took another table. Eventually, we gave up waiting for the place to fill up and left at about half past midnite. Donated a pack of marlboros (dutyfree and we were leaving Tokyo soon) to the stoned out door guy, who nodded his thanks. Shucks, I knew I should have asked one of the guys in HMV Shibuya for party info... I guess the tip here is:
Ask the locals for party advice.
Dress Code: prolly didn't matter, there wasn't anyone to care!
Updated May 8, 2005
An Ex-pat Bar for the Brit's and those who enjoy them. The name of the Bar is actually "What the Dickens!" And it is a blast!
Ok, there was a moment or two when the Guiness was flowing and I thought I was going to be in hte middle of a very large Bar fight while two guys were yelling their Premier Leauge Football club teams names at each other. (I still get a little bit on edge when I hear the word Arsenal).
There are live bands every night around 8 or 9, and the music varries. My first time there, I caught a dixieland band playing, the next time was Reggae. They also have the usual Pub-food staples such as lamb pie and steak and kidney pie. I went with the Lamb. Yummy. Plus you can wash it down with one of the many UK and Irish beers that are on tap here.
It is a great place to take in music, but a little loud, and a little too dark at times.
Dress Code: It's a pub. Dress like you are going drinking.
Written May 3, 2005
Address: 1-13-3 Ebisu Nishi
Phone: 03-3780-2099
Hi All: I have been living in Roppongi (means 6 trees) for the last 5 months and have discoved a number of good clubs. Nothing really starts happening until 10:30/11PM
Roppongi Map
First rule, NEVER go with a Nigerian to a "Gentalmens Club". If you want that kind of stuff go to either 7th Heaven or Tantra or leave Roppongi and go to Shinjuku.
There are a number of good clubs and bars that are a lot of fun.
Okashii-gaijin-bar (Strange Foreigner Bar):
Most common Japanese folks are usually afraid of these bars. I recommend Geronimo's and Magumbos. The staff are nice and most people are very friendly. Most of my Japanese friends will only go to these places if they are escorted by a an american/brit. My friend Kumi went with me and had a blast but would never go alone.
Kumi-and-Me
Off the beaten path:
There are about 300 bars in a 10 block radius. At one point I was really into exploring and I would go to maybe 10 to 15 bars a night, everynight. Most of them I would just walk in take a quick look and take off. If you want to meet nice mellow Japanese people my favorite bar is called Shake. Emi is the owner and very customer service focused. Everyone who meets Emi, loves Emi. I have made more good friends here than anywhere else! This is NOT a pickup bar. It's a place where local folks go to have a drink and conversation. If you go there, you will meet one of the locals and have an intresting conversation.
Getting there:
Ok, on the map link I provided, you will see the street called Roppongi-don and the hotel Baden. Shake is the next block down and to the right. Basement 1 (B1).
OR
Roppongi station exit #5 --> Down the street 3 blocks (maybe 4 depending on how you count). turn right on un-named street and and the Shake sign is to the right and lit. If you don't clearly see the sign your not in the right place. try walking down one more block or back 1 black. Opens at 8PM Mon-Sat.
Dress Code: Casual
Updated Aug 26, 2004
Address: Minato-ku
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Hi All: I have been living in Roppongi (means 6 trees) for the last 5 months and have discoved a number of good clubs. Nothing really starts happening until...
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