Roppongi Nights

Made friends. Drank pineapple juice in front of a giant spider. Was served cocktails by a Russian in a suit. Sung songs I didnt know the words to at the top of my voice. Ate kebabs (or kabobs?). Found the cheapest accomodation in Tokyo. Attracted attention in a crowded train station. Stripped in a park. Get ready for the weirdest, craziest, most ridiculous blog entry so far, seperated in two so you dont overdose on all the adventures contained within.

Like most fun adventures, it hid around the corner and jumped out at the last minute to grab me. Soh was touring around town with two American girls from his High School, and they wanted to spend a night out in Roppongi... That may sound very innocent, but in Japan that basically means `lets drink until we cant feel feelings anymore`. Roppongi is not for the reserved or cautious - it is the place to go for a wild night you wont forgot. Lonely Planet writes:

`Roppongi is not part of Japan - it`s a multinational twilight zone that feels like Mardi Gras blew over on a hurricane from New Orleans, where gaijin (foreigners) get together with adventurous locals to boozily schmooze until the first trains at dawn`.

We start the night at 7pm at Geronimo, a shot bar so American and grungy you would swear you were in hillbilly country. Not intent on getting drunk just yet, we pretty much walk in, say`Geronimo!`, down a shot and walk straight back out. Then we get Chinese food. This would have been an ordinary meal, if not for the owners choice of decor - in between the usual fans and paper lanterns there are several sets of genitalia and breasts adorning the walls. The theme has no connection to the food or service whatsoever, and the staff walk around as though they can`t see them. We eat our fried rice and gyouza with a view of the centrepeice, a gong with a gigantic, golden hammer of a peculiar shape (use your imagination), lit up like a christmas tree. The drinking begins afterwards at Roppongi Hills, in front of the rather evil-looking spider sculpture. Having a fair bit of experience behind them, the people I am with know to avoid Roppongis notoriously high priced drinks, and we have a delicious mixture of pineapple juice and rum instead.

The night moves on, and before I know it drinking convenience store liquor on a park bench turns into being served cocktails from a Russian guy in a suit, in a very classy setting indeed. You could mistake it for a high-price restaurant if not for the smoking plastic pipe we are passing around, or the psychedelic looking machine it is connected to. It is called Hooka, basically a giant wad of flavoured tobacco filtered and smoked through a pipe. You don`t actually breathe it into your lungs (I did, it hurt), you just swirl it around in your mouth and enjoy the flavour. We dont pay any extra for our high-class surroundings either - The VIP section is free due to Salsa classes in the regular section.

Having been to America, China and Russia all in the one night, we finally head back to Japan for some good old fashioned Karaoke. Karaoke is not a public affair in Japan, it is conducted in private booths, with are also the perfect place to share a bottle of convenience store vodka around. We drink copious quantities of vodka-juice combo, which slips down your throat like a thief in the night - predictably, with consequences later, but in the calm before the storm we are all having a wonderful time. We bellow out songs together in pub style, and having the lyrics printed on the screen means I can hout out tunes I have never even heard before. We dance standing on the karaoke seats, and for a time that little booth is the best bar in town.

By 1am we are completely spent, and it is time to sort out the difficult matter of accomodation. The last trains left at midnight, my house is a little too far to walk (would probably take a day or so), and we have no plans of repeating our last all-nighter. It is time for one of the quintessential Tokyo experiences - sleeping in a manga cafe! For a mere 1200 yen ($12) I buy a night pack which takes me through till morning, and pass out on a comfy leather seat.