Wanted: Bizarre Bars of Japan

February 24, 2010

I haven’t posted many bar reviews lately because I haven’t discovered anywhere ridiculous or surreal enough (although there’s a bar in Tochigi with monkey waiters that I keep meaning to visit). So let me know your recommendations!

I haven’t covered many places outside of Tokyo and Yokohama, so if you’re living anywhere else, tell me about your local bizarre boozers.
Get in touch if you live cities such as Osaka, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Nagasaki, Hiroshima, Nagoya, or especially in random, far-flung places like Tottori or Ehime (if, indeed, they’ve discovered the internet there yet.)
Every town has a few curious and colourful bars and, from my experience, the pubs in the suburbs and rural areas have even more character than those in the city.

Just send a couple of photos and tell me what’s weird or wonderful about the bars. Be sure to make a note of the address, phone number, and URL if they have one. (Most bars have a pile of business cards on the bar counter with all this info.)
Send your recommendations to gaijintonic@gmail.com

Here are a few examples of the sort of places I’m looking for:
Kagaya- Tokyo’s Weirdest Bar
Submarine-Themed Bar
Prison Hospital-Themed Bar
Luther Vandross Bar
Frankenstein Bar
Fleamarket Bar
Cute Halloween Bar
The Amazon Club
Wesley
Rock Bar F*ck Yeah
Shark Bar

9 Comments | Alcohol, Cool, Crazy, Fun, Japan, Weird, drinking | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by roaf

Valentine’s Nonsense

February 13, 2010

Valentine’s Day, like everything else, has been warped by Japan’s cultural filters like a reflection in a funhouse mirror. Here’s what I had to say about it a couple of years ago.

It is traditional for Japanese women to give chocolates to the men they love on Valentine’s Day. Ladies, if you want to make more of an impression this year, why not present your loved one with some of the seasonal chocolate beer I wrote about a couple of weeks ago? Or, even better, with this heart-shaped Domino’s pizza?

Pizza and beer are surefire shortcuts to a man’s heart.

Anyway, I’m about to lapse into a diabetic coma from all the chocolate I’ve been eating, so here, for your listening pleasure, is a tacky 80s song called “Valentine’s Kiss”, sung by women in swimsuits.

And here are some amusingly dated chocolate commercials starring Japanese pop stars.





3 Comments | Cool, Crazy, Festivals, Fun, Japan, Tokyo, Weird | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by roaf

Wild Mood Swings Vol 1 (Free Party in Tokyo)

February 11, 2010

Hey, I’m DJing at a wild, all-night, wilfully nerdy shindig in Tokyo in a few weeks, so I thought I’d plug it here.
It’s at Sangenjaya Hell’s Bar on March 21st. Should be fairly raucous and rad!

Here’s the info from Facebook

In 1972 a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn’t commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire WILD MOOD SWINGS!

Hey Sir or Madam! Wild Mood Swings is an all-new, all-night, all-mix FREE DJ party in Tokyo. We play an unpredicatable mix of different tunes, aimed to frizzle-fry your brains! Ideal for those with short attention spans, like the guy from Memento.

DJs are:
Craig eee (Tokyo GIg Guide)
Grant McGaheran (Abikyokan)
Jake Arnston (Abikyokan)
Timebred (GaijinTonic)
Junko
Special K
and more…

We play all genres, stuff like: New Order, Animal Collective, Hot Chip, Aphex Twin, The Cure, Stereolab, Can, David Bowie, Prince, Skinny Puppy, Lee Perry, Kraftwerk, Flaming Lips, Delphic, Ice T, Talking Heads, Cut Copy, The Smiths, CSS, CCR, Ramones, Devo, The Strokes, Marvin Gaye, Joy Division, Stevie Wonder, Altern8, XTC, Orbital, Roxy Music, MGMT, Public Enemy, Devo, Blur, Buzzcocks, Bloc Party, Happy Mondays, Pulp, The Clash, Fugazi, Sparks, Broadcast, Isaac Hayes, Madness, Hank Williams III, Miles Davis, Barry White R.E.M, Human League, Vengaboys, disco, dub, reggae, italo, old-skool hip-hop, electropop, 80s pop, krautrock, African 70s

It’s at Hell’s bar in Sangenjaya on March 21st (Sunday, before a national holiday) from 11PM ’til the break of dawn.

Hell’s Bar
東京都世田谷区太子堂2-12-1ダイムタワー2F
TEL：03-6805-3375

To get to the bar take the Denentoshi like to Sangenjaya (one express stop from Shibuya). Take the North B exit, go straight ahead, past Family Mart, past Lawson, walk for a couple of minutes, and it’s on the left, next to the 99yen shop. It’s on the second floor, up a spiral staircase.

Here’s their website (with a map): Hell’s bar

4 Comments | Alcohol, Cheap, Cool, Crazy, Fun, Japan, Music, Tokyo, Weird, drinking | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by roaf

White on Rice

February 2, 2010

I’ve had a chance to see a preview of the new film, “White on Rice”, which will be shown at the Osaka Asian Film Festival in March.
The latest offering by Dave Boyle, the U.S-based Japanophile who directed “Big Dreams Little Tokyo” in 2006, “White on Rice” is another warm and quirky comedy.
The story is about the romantic misadventures of Jimmy, a hapless ex-pat from Japan, reduced to living with his sister in America after a divorce, and trying to date the local ladies. Jimmy has to put up with a disapproving brother-in-law, and having to share a bunkbed with his 10-year old nephew (who is cleverer than he is.) When his brother in law’s beautiful niece moves in to stay, Jimmy is besotted, but has to compete for her affections with his handsome workmate, Tim (played by James Kyson Lee from “Heroes”.)

Hiroshi Watanabe (“Letters from Iwo Jima”) gives a endearingly goofy turn as the dopey Jimmy, and Mio Takada and Nae give solid support as Jimmy’s ill-suffering hosts. Lynn Chen as the object of Jimmy’s desires is way too young and sexy to ever be a possible match for him, (he’s definitely out of his league) but I suppose this makes his misguided pursuit all the more more awkward and funny.

Sitting in Japan, watching an American movie with mostly Japanese dialogue was initially discombobulating, but at least it’s a novel direction to take. Dave Boyle is the only Western film-maker I can think of who seems to have been influenced by Japanese romantic comedies (as opposed to Japanese anime/horror). It’s refreshing to see well-rounded Asian characters in a US film who aren’t the usual stereotypes; and hopefully Boyle’s movie will inspire American Asians to pick up the cameras themselves more often (picking up cameras offscreen rather than onscreen, as it were.)
Overall a fun, charming, and slightly odd film, with a winning performance from Watanabe.

Here’s the movies’s website: http://www.whiteonricethemovie.com

1 Comment | Cool, Fun, Japan, Movies | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by roaf