Tokyo Night City Where to Drink & Party. Judith Brand
listed in these pages will start changing even as the book is being printed. Keep in mind that the names and faces of bars may change, but something usually takes their place. Roppongi will always be relatively easy to plug into, but if that party mecca doesn't satisfy your needs, this book will allow you to find what you want. To keep on top of the turnover of information, regular updates are mandatory and already scheduled for publication.
Each page features a description of the club, lists its hours of operation, address, phone number, and a yen symbol to rate the initial cash outlay necessary to get a drink. ¥ means that your first drink will cost you up to or the equivalent of ¥1,000, ¥¥ means that it will cost you more than ¥1,000 but no more than ¥2,000, and so on. Dance clubs and venues with a cover charge that sometimes include drinks have also been rated according to your initial outlay. If it is ¥3,000 to get in but you get two drinks, it's still going to cost you ¥3,000 to get the first one, so it rates ¥¥¥.
In addition to the above information, each page features a walking map to the club from the closest train station. Symbols used in the maps are:
Japanese words and English words with specialized local meanings have been italicized and explained in the glossary.
So, get out there and grab a thread and follow it through the night city. See you there.
All That Jazz
Japan has embraced jazz like no other genre of Western music. Interest has existed here since the 20s, after which it steadily developed to generate a soft jazz boom during the big-band, dance-hall days of the 30s. Popularity continued to grow during the American Occupation, when the USO were the first to bring such stars as Benny Goodman to Japan to entertain their enlisted personnel. The Officers' Club was the only place to catch these acts until the advent of luxury nightclubs like the New Latin Quarter and the Copa Cabana. Many American musicians who found themselves working for Uncle Sam began teaching local artists how to play. The first major wave of jazz was breaking across Japan, but toward the end of the 50s the dance-hall days were dying. Big bands were crumbling into small combos whose playing styles were evolving into bee-bop and beyond.
By the 60s jazz was developing a new image in Japan. At the beginning of the decade it was lumped in with pop, country and western, and even Hawaiian music. It was at this time that Oscar Peterson invited Toshiko Akiyoshi to study jazz piano at Berkeley. She in turn invited Sadao Watanabe. Toward the end of the decade the first pure jazz clubs were opening— some big and fancy, some small and dirty. Watanabe returned to Japan to teach modern jazz workshops, which were popular with younger people and led more local musicians to form their own groups. This paved the way for the second wave in Japan, but this time it was modern jazz that swept through the scene. At the same time that America's youth was preaching free love and draft dodging, there was an equivalent social, cultural, and intellectual rethinking in Japan. Jazz had taken on the dimensions of an esoteric youth movement. It was mostly snubbed by the establishment, but imensely popular with freedom thinkers. Anyone you meet who was here then will tell you that it was wild. Customs officials were still relatively naive so a lot of drugs made it onto the scene. All the big names and their entourages were touring Japan. Eventually someone was caught and immigration started cracking down on visas for musicians.
By the 70s jazz had become big business and, therefore, part of the establishment again. The first large outdoor festivals were organized and more mainstream, luxury clubs were opening. By the 1980s, however, interest had started to wane. The audience was aging and younger people just weren't taking their place. Before the recent emergence of acid-jazz and jazz-rap, the genre had waited many years to exert an influence (beyond history) on current musical styles. Venues now tend to be extremely up-market and a little too sanitized. It is also hard for young people to afford an interest, as serious amounts of money can change hands for an enthusiast to buy the privilege of simply entering a club.
Pia features comprehensive schedules for venues which will be valuable once you know the musicians. The clubs listed here will help you get to know them.
Body and Soul
Kyoko Seiki recently relocated her snazzy little jazz club in the basement of a brand-new building right around the corner from one of her major competitors, Blue Note. The addition of this club on this block in Aoyama effectively creates a mini jazz village, offering both a high and low-end venue. Body and Soul is low end in terms of cost. The reasonably-priced cover charge does not include any drinks, but unlike Blue Note, it does entitle you stay all night. The lighting is subdued and the interior is sophisticated, solid, and unscuffed (except for one panel taken from the mama's previous venue which was signed by some of the club's more famous performers). The stage area is surrounded by tables and chairs which are backed by a bar with high stools and a balcony with more tables and chairs. These seating levels are tiered so that everyone has a good view. The mama is as vigilant as a Ginza hostess in administering to her regular customers, but the overall atmosphere is pretty loose.
Open from 6:30 p.m. till 12 a.m.
Monday to Saturday. First set at
8 p.m. Closed on Sunday.
Anise Minami-aoyama Bldg.
B1F,
6-13-9 Minami-aoyama,
Minato-ku.
(03) 5466-3348
¥¥¥¥
Blue Note
Meanwhile on the high end of the scene, customers at this venue are being scalped ¥8,000 plus at the door for the pleasure of plugging into a one-hour set. This hefty cover charge does not include drinks. The club features only famous overseas acts and equally famous local ones. Many jazz buffs will go to this venue only if these stars are not playing at another more reasonably-priced venue. The management says they can't make it any cheaper—the New York club costs US$40 (around ¥5,000) anyway. Because the sets are so short and the entry entitles you to only one, this venue is possibly best used for catching vocalists. Instrument-led groups are just starting to cook at the end of an hour, which can be frustrating for both the audience and the act. The interior is spacious and airy with a sunken seating area faced by an elevated stage. All the walls are mirrored and every seat is good. Even if you get stuck behind someone with a bouffant hairdo, you will have a good view of the stage.
Open from 6 p.m. till 2 a.m.
Monday to Saturday. First set at
7:30 p.m. Closed on Sunday.
FIK Bldg. B1F,
5-13-3 Minami-aoyama,
Minato-ku.
(03) 3407-5781
¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥+
G•H Nine
This is a subdued and sophisticated jazz spot delivering a mixed bag of local acts for less than you would be scalped for in other better-known clubs. It is definitely worth the effort to make your way to Ueno if you don't already live or work in the area. The club is located directly under the glass pyramid which gives the Uno Building its distinctive look, but which makes heating a little difficult during