Yes, I went to and survived the infamous Roppongi last night. It was worth going once. A crazy place. More lively at night that during the day by far. More foreigners than Japanese. More bars than Bodrum.
I have really had the urge to go dancing, but I have been busy.
Anyway, my friend Eugene (my host mom mistook his name for "yuujin" which
just means friend in Japanese: "I am friend.") and I had some free time,
so we decided to meet at Roppongi station for a night on the town.
Unfortunately, I was late, and it was raining, and we went to different
bars, and Roppongi is a crazy place; so we never met.
I went to a bar called Gaspanic. Considering the gas attack on the Tokyo subways, you might think that this bar would not be too popular. However, the opposite is true. In fact there are four different Gaspanic Bars in Roppongi. The bar was pretty tiny and crowded, but I was able to find a good dancing spot. The music was pretty good-all English. I was happy just to hear all those cool songs. I didn't really meet any people there. I commented to one girl about the crazy policy of having a drink at all times. People would come around every few minutes to check to see that your glass is more than half full and you are drinking at a good pace. Otherwise, you would be kicked out. I thought it was a very interesting policy, but the girl didn't have much to say about it. Anyway, they forced me to drink two Frozen Pazaloas (or something like that). Later I realized that they also had non-alcoholic drinks. I actually enjoyed my little cocktails, though, even though I don't usually drink.
I asked some slick-dancing army-type (most of the U.S. military guys were pretty lame dancers) about the other bars. Just before midnight I slipped out and went to the Gaspanic 99 (so named because it is open from 9pm to 9am). It was a little bigger, but the music wasn't quite as good. However, they were not so strict on the drinking policy though, so I stayed till about 3am. Actually I would have rather left at about 2am, but after the last train leaves around midnight, you are stuck there.
I met a girl (and her friends) named Tomoko. She didn't seem too interested at first, but we talked a while. She studies at ICU. She said "Let's become friends" (see my next journal entry about friends) but from then on things went downhill. I am not sure what happened, but it seemed she was basically ignoring me. Eventually, I decided to take off. I gave her my name card and wished her luck in life.
I listened to some street musicians for a bit and then ate a value meal at McDonald's (man, I would not want to work there at 3am). The streets were packed with taxis and drunks. I wondered around and went back to the first bar for the last half hour. I danced my little heart out. I think I fulfilled my urge for a while.
I was waiting along with a lot of other tired party-goers, when the first morning train pulled into Roppongi station at 5am. It was an interesting night. It is definitely a unique place in the world. Actually you can find a similar scene of international bars in most countries, but Roppongi beats them all. I don't know when I will go back, but if you ever get a chance, you should definitely go.