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Tiger Beer
Joined: 08 Feb 2003
Posts: 778
Location: Hong Kong
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 Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2005 9:18 am Post subject: Rappongi scene.. |
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| Is Rappongi near a US base? Whats the story with that area and how it came to be the way it is? |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2005 10:19 am Post subject: Re: Rappongi scene.. |
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| Tiger Beer wrote: |
| Is Rappongi near a US base? Whats the story with that area and how it came to be the way it is? |
Do you mean Roppongi in Tokyo?
There are several US military bases in Kanto and i think the closest one is Atsugi in western Tokyo, quite a hike from central Tokyo. Not exactly close if you ask me. Roppongi is just a bar and niteclub district of Tokyo. Maybe some locals can fill you in on how it got that way. |
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Tiger Beer
Joined: 08 Feb 2003
Posts: 778
Location: Hong Kong
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| Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2005 10:23 am Post subject: |
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Yeah, I was thinking of the nightlife area in Tokyo.
Actually, as I'm in Seoul and the famous foreigner area is Itaewon.. I'm curious how similar/different the Rappongi area is to Itaewon particularly with origins.
Itaewon in Seoul is essentially there because of the U.S. military base.. but now days foreigners from all over the world who come to Seoul end up hanging around the Itaewon area as well.
Also, how about Gas Panic in Rappongi.. I always hear about that place.. whats the scene going on there? |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2005 10:45 am Post subject: |
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| Tiger Beer wrote: |
Ye
Also, how about Gas Panic in Rappongi.. I always hear about that place.. whats the scene going on there? |
I live in Kyoto so I cant tell you what Gaspanic is like.
Really just a well-known gaijin (foreigner) bar with lots of guys (including servicemen) on the make with local women. Lots of female groupies and Eigo bandits (people who go there so they can practice English on you).
Meat market central. |
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Bozo Yoroshiku
Joined: 22 Feb 2005
Posts: 139
Location: the Chocolate Side of the Force
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| Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2005 2:28 pm Post subject: |
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| Tiger Beer wrote: |
| how about Gas Panic in Rappongi.. I always hear about that place.. whats the scene going on there? |
Too Itaewon-ish for my liking (I hate Itaewon). I'm of the "older" clubbing crowd, so I've gone to Muse, Heartlands, and Xanadu. Muse and Heartlands are not far from Roppongi station, Xanadu is one station over at Azabu-juban. I prefer Heartlands of the three, although I do like Alcatraz, too (next to the Lexinton Queen last time I was there... avoid the Lex, though, whatever you do).
--boz |
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osakajojo
Joined: 15 Sep 2004
Posts: 229
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| Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2005 2:37 pm Post subject: |
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I thought I picked up a Chinese girl at Gas Panic. Turned out she was married. (Was she an eigo bandit?)I found the place to be a huge sausage fest, a meat market to say the least.
Roppongi seems to have a bad rep. It is filled with bars, expect to pay 10 times more than you would in Korea for a drink.
There are some cool clubs around there. Yellow is my favorite. |
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Bozo Yoroshiku
Joined: 22 Feb 2005
Posts: 139
Location: the Chocolate Side of the Force
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| Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2005 3:01 pm Post subject: |
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| osakajojo wrote: |
| expect to pay 10 times more than you would in Korea for a drink. There are some cool clubs around there. Yellow is my favorite. |
There are plenty of places that charge 500-600 for a drink, which isn't bad. My nihongo sensei keeps recommending Yellow, but I can never find the damn place!
--boz |
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azarashi sushi
Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Posts: 562
Location: Shinjuku
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| Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2005 12:34 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| Is Rappongi near a US base? Whats the story with that area and how it came to be the way it is? |
Roppongi was very much a country village up until the 1790s when it officially became one of the 808 towns under the administration of the Edo municipality. The center of metropolitan activity swirled around Asakusa and Nihonbashi. Roppongi was a good place for catching fireflies and listening to cicadas.
In the mid-18th century, the population of Roppongi stood at 454. Mikawadai, current site of the Hamburger Inn, housed 51 people. There was no �Roppongi Crossing� in those days; in fact, there was no road from Tameike to Kasumiyacho. The main thoroughfare was the road that today runs behind the Azabu Police Station. It was known as Onari Kaido, and Shogun often used it on their way hawk hunting.
The pages of Roppongi�s history are not without their tales of romance. During Edo it happened that a young samurai from Fukui drew the duty of accompanying his lord on one of his one-year stints in the big city. He became enraptured with the charms of a nubile maiden who worked for his lord.
When his year of temporary duty expired, he received orders to pack up and return to Fukui. But he couldn�t do it. In flagrant disregard of the supposedly unshakable Bushido spirit�but like the legendary romantic hero of so many cultures�he hung up his samurai swords and walked into the sunset with his maiden.
In this case, the setting sun apparently caught them in Roppongi, for it was here that they settled, opening a vegetable shop that stood until just before the Pacific War.
It may have been that Roppongi was blessed with an L. Mendel Rivers-like representative lobbying for the constituency within the central government, but at any rate, in 1890 it was determined that the Imperial Guard�s Third Division would be moved from Marunouchi to Ryudo-cho, where Pacific Stars and Stripes, the U.S. military newspaper, and part of Tokyo University are now.
The soldiers brought money. And Roppongi was good to the military, with many shops catering especially to the soldiers. A night life blossomed.
Perhaps it�s merely coincidence, but the first police box was inaugurated in Six Trees about the same time. Until then, the townspeople had policed their own neighborhood.
Streets still were unpaved and were filled only with horses and jinrikisha.
It may have gotten a little noisy down in Mikawadai, though, from the sounds of cows being milked at the sprawling dairy farm there.
During and after the Japan-China War of 1894, Roppongi grew famous as a heitai machi, or soldier town. Many troops shared rooms rented to them above local shops. The Russo-Japanese War in 1905 brought an even greater influx of military, and the little country town no doubt began to garner a reputation that stands today of catering to military men enjoying R&R.
In 1911 and 1912 the jinrikisha were nosed to the roadsides by the coming of the first streetcars, stretching from Aoyama 1-chome, through Roppongi, to Mikawadai and, of course, linking with the rest of Tokyo.
The first official foreign embassies opened in Roppongi during the early Taisho period, some 10 years before the Great Kanto Earthquake leveled nearly everything from Mt. Fuji to Tokyo. (Today, of Tokyo�s many embassies, 43 are rooted in Roppongi)
It was then, in September 1923, after the earth trembled and 143,000 died, that there was a change come over Roppongi and, indeed, much of the eastern and uptown portions of Tokyo�s outskirts that had been spared devastating damage.
The homeless sought refuge in parts of the city untouched by fire, and Roppongi, for a change, had been left relatively unscorched.
Perhaps the earthquake was the turning point, so to speak, of this quiet little neighborhood. The homeless stayed. Commerce prospered.
The 600-year-old ginko tree got a few years older and life was tolerable. In 1925, the government railway�s Yamanote belt line fastened, putting Roppongi permanently within the steel rail circumference of the city.
World War II was not to be as lenient with Roppongi as the Great Hanshin Earthquake had been. Napalm bombs blanketed the city, converting it within a few months before the end of the war into a Dresden-like inferno. More men, women and children were killed in the fire bombing of Tokyo than in the American atomic bombings of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Roppongi was gone. Rubble. Standing in ruins that were once pine forest, then city, then nothing, a person could once again see clear to the sea. But there was little life between.
Ironically, the same GIs who brought the bombs landed with the bread, and it was the Allied Occupation, with its high concentration of conquerors in Roppongi, that helped in post-war rehabilitation and internationalization of the area. The U.S. Army�s 1st Cavalry Division and Signal Corps sprinkled the area and the Sanno military billeting facility (literally officer�s hotel) is still located only a figurative stone�s throw from Roppongi.
Along with, and perhaps because of, the number of international soldiers who roamed Roppongi, this Roppongi Zoku (Roppongi Crowd) as it was nicknamed, featured the latest fashions, hip slang and a tendency for keeping late hours. As the foreign troop presence dwindled, the late-night shops, bistros and boutiques found willing clientele among the Zoku and entertainers who favored Roppongi with their off-hours. |
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JimDunlop2
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Posts: 2286
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2005 2:22 pm Post subject: |
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Was just in Roppongi last night actually -- on an overnight trip to Tokyo.
Let's start with the obvious: it was packed with people (many of whom looked like tourists); servicemen (they tend to hang out in groups, with identical buzz cuts) and other assorted people. Driving was a nightmare! Taxis were almost piled on top of more taxis and between pedestrians who don't care what colour the lights are and people who decide to double-park in the middle of the road, it's best to take a cab from wherever the people AREN'T.
Gaspanic. Letsee. How should I define that? It's the reason why it took me almost 3 years to visit Roppongi. It epitomizes everything I hate about nightclubs and the clubbing scene. The only good thing it's got going for it is that sucks up all the foreign traffic, leaving better clubs less crowded for people like my wife and I. Oh yeah, and the cafe on the ground floor has excellent pizza by the slice...
Gaspanic is essentially "the bar from back home" transplanted into Tokyo. If that's your bag, then you can stop reading my post right here, cause you won't like the places I went instead.... 
Down the street from Gaspanic: Tropicanna. Argentine tango and latin bar. My kinda place. Classy, but closed early. We only managed to chat with the owner who was cleaning up, but got some great info on the tango scene in Tokyo and when to come for a good time....
A little closer to Gaspanic: A really nice-looking Brazillian restaurant. Didn't have time to go in, but the menu looked fantastic!
Across from Gaspanic: Havana 24. (I think that's what it's called).... A DIRTY Cuban bar! I loved it! Cuban music blaring, Cubans dancing, and the smells of Cuban foods cooking... And it was dirty! If it were any cleaner, it wouldn't have felt so authentic.
Down the street from Gaspanic in the other direction: El Cafe Latino. A true salsa bar. Latina chicas shaking their thing, wearing very, very, tight clothing. Salsa music blaring, everyone dancing, and a really good time! 75% of the bar was Latino. The remaing 25% was about 3/4 Japanese and a few other miscellaneous (like us). Downsides: 1000yen for a draft beer, and after 1am the dance floor is PACKED!
And that's the way I spent my Thursday night in Tokyo before retreating to our (fairly reasonably priced) hotel all the way in Ueno. (Oak hotel, double room 8100yen).
Hope that helps. |
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Tiger Beer
Joined: 08 Feb 2003
Posts: 778
Location: Hong Kong
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| Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2005 2:32 pm Post subject: |
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are the bars/clubs in Osaka or other parts of Japan better?
I also heard a rumour that most regular Japan bars have mandatory and expensive side dishes you must order with your drinks? Is that true too?
JimDunlop2 - very cool! That helps me quite a bit with getting a sense of Rappongi.. cute little latina women too! Thats MUCH better than Seoul and Itaewon! (Although a few brazilian models always seem to hit this one club called SPY BAR with is kind of cool).
The servicemen in Rappongi.. is that common in many of the clubs/bars in Rappongi? Or is GasPanic the place for that? What kind of music do they play in GasPanic? Hope its not hip-hop..
Drinking prices in all of those place sounds outrageous as well. |
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scrying
Joined: 14 Nov 2004
Posts: 27
Location: Nagoya Japan
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| Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 8:18 am Post subject: different strokes, diff folks... |
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all really depends on what your flavor is for the nite. I'm still a big psytrance fan, but there aren't many good djs here yet (scene is still very..bubble-pop derived here), but the small house clubs in shibuya are good times (Loop, Module, RockWest, etc).
Roppongi in general annoys the devil out of me unless I am really in a slumming mood... |
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