ROPPONGI BARS

Roppongi Bars and Nightclubs - Guide to some of the bars and nightclubs in Roppongi Tokyo Japan

There are innumerable watering holes in Roppongi. Generally speaking, first floor and ground floor establishments cater to foreigners while higher stories feature more exclusive (and often sex-related) clubs aimed at the Japanese. ID is required by many clubs, so bring along your passport.

Some of bars and nightclubs in Roppongi

Party time in Propagandaalife Nishiazabu. Myojo Nishiazabu 70 Building, near Roppongi Hills. 1-7-2 Nishiazabu, 03-5785-2531, [9] (http://www.e-alife.net/alife_tokyo/index.html). Huge club complex.

Gas Panic. 2-3F, 3-15-24 Roppongi, 03-3405-0633, [10] (http://www.gaspanic.co.jp/). The best known of Roppongi's many meat markets, where desperate foreigners hoping to score and desperate Japanese hoping to get scored congregate. Packed tighter than the lower circles of Hell on most weekends. No entry fee, but you must have a drink in your hand at all times. On Thursdays ("Happy Gaspanic Day") all drinks are ¥400 all night, while the rest of the time prices vary from ¥600-1200.

Lexington Queen. B1F, 3-13-14 Roppongi, 03-3401-1661, [11] (http://www.lexingtonqueen.com). Going on 25 years, "The Lex" has managed to ride out the bubble and still gets the obligatory photo-op visits from all the fresh and washed-up celebrities alike. Truly the grand old dame of 'Pongi (a title equally apt for owner and longtime society columnist Bill Hersey).

Propaganda. Yua Roppongi Building 2F, 3-14-9 Roppongi. An appropriately grubby joint decorated with propaganda posters and booming bass, mostly of the hip-hop sort. The friendly staff parties as hard as the customers. Drinks ¥800-1000 (half price before 9 PM), no cover charge.

Space Lab Yellow. 1-10-11 Nishi-Azabu, tel. 3479-0690, [12] (http://www.club-yellow.com/). Opened in 1993 and still going strong, Yellow offers an inky black performance space for many of the city's (and the world's) more innovative electronic artists and residents include the United Future Organization. Cover charges depend on the night's program. Buried in an alley and a little difficult to find, look for pure yellow lit-up square that serves as the sign.

Velfarre. 7-14-22 Roppongi, tel. 3402-8000, [13] (http://velfarre.avex.co.jp/). Tokyo's glitziest club in the bubble days, but fallen on harder times and the once stratospheric cover charge is now a mere ¥3000-4000 most nights for men (women get a small discount).

Heartland in the bottom of Mori Tower is a place for many foreigners to start the night. The clientele consists mainly of male foreigners in the finance area and Japanese girls/women who want a foreigner yet not an English teacher or a US marine. There is no dress code, but most men wear shirts and women dress nicely. Heartland is quite different from the typical Pongi drinking hole as the average age is much higher and the clientele is more up-scale. (Free entrance, bottled beer ¥500.)

Staying safe in Roppongi

Roppongi has, by Japanese standards, a slightly dangerous reputation and even makes it onto the US Department of State's Consular Information Sheet [15] , probably mostly for lack of anything else to warn about. The main hazard is drunken fights, which should be steered clear of as standard operating procedure for the police is to grab everybody in the vicinity and lock them up until things are sorted out, which may take its time. Some petty theft also occurs in crowded bars and clubs.

(Article based on Wikitravel article by Wikitravel users Brian Kurkoski, Richard Petersen, Ted O'Neill and Paul N. Richter and Wikitravel user(s) Jpatokal, Makiko, Miki-monomaniac, Nzpcmad, Huttite and Luke. Article used under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 1.0.)