Best nightlife options in Tokyo despite "mambo" nonsense?

[dolceandbanana]

Hey folks. I'm twice covid recovered (never got sick from it) and vaxxed and frankly over the whole thing. Work has been kicking my ass and I want to blow off some steam in a social setting, but things have been really dead as of late. Any tips for decent nightlife options despite the semi "mambo" period we're still stuck with?

My personal observations over the past month:

- Went to Ce La Vi with some colleagues and it was dead and a total sausage fest. It was pretty good after it opened, but looks like it's just a bunch of people trying to outdo each other with weird fashion in the VIP nowadays.

- 1Oak was pretty good, but crowd size is down to like 1/4 of what it was pre omicron.

- Alife is the same 100 people every night and everyone has already fucked everyone else at least twice, totally over it.

- Random small bars in Shibuya still open but mostly poor looking older gaijin creeping in the corners or so smoky you can't see the back wall. No thanks.

- Ginza/Hibiya dead except salarymen - are the OLs finally going home and being faithful?

I have to believe that there's some action to be had with all the covid frustrations and people being stuck with their partners for the past two years... but maybe Japanese people just continue to get more and more boring the longer I stay here.

 

[yeti]

Hey folks. I'm twice covid recovered (never got sick from it) and vaxxed and frankly over the whole thing. Work has been kicking my ass and I want to blow off some steam in a social setting, but things have been really dead as of late. Any tips for decent nightlife options despite the semi "mambo" period we're still stuck with?

My personal observations over the past month:

- Went to Ce La Vi with some colleagues and it was dead and a total sausage fest. It was pretty good after it opened, but looks like it's just a bunch of people trying to outdo each other with weird fashion in the VIP nowadays.

- 1Oak was pretty good, but crowd size is down to like 1/4 of what it was pre omicron.

- Alife is the same 100 people every night and everyone has already fucked everyone else at least twice, totally over it.

- Random small bars in Shibuya still open but mostly poor looking older gaijin creeping in the corners or so smoky you can't see the back wall. No thanks.

- Ginza/Hibiya dead except salarymen - are the OLs finally going home and being faithful?

I have to believe that there's some action to be had with all the covid frustrations and people being stuck with their partners for the past two years... but maybe Japanese people just continue to get more and more boring the longer I stay here.

懐かし... Alife, Camelot, Ageha, Vuenos, Club Asia, Womb etc... (perhaps I just dated myself) never been to 1oak

forget the night clubs...

If you're looking to pull, international parties or just plain old bars... Aldagate, What The Dickens, The Hub (the one in Shibuya, and not the one near Camelot), standing bars (Shimbashi and/or Noge) etc...

Night clubs rob you of your ability to communicate in any language... stick to bars, go alone and strike up conversation! BEST OF LUCK!

 

[Frenchy]

(perhaps I just dated myself)

yeah, you’re young enough not to mention Gas Panic and Velfarre

 

[yeti]

yeah, you’re young enough not to mention Gas Panic and Velfarre

bro! i just forgot... LOL.

I'll raise you a certain club 'Pure' and the Ruby Room.. (just a hop skip away from shibuya donkijote...)

and let us not forget feria and wallstreet over at pongi

I wonder how many of them are still around...

 

[Frenchy]

bro! i just forgot... LOL.

I'll raise you a certain club 'Pure' and the Ruby Room.. (just a hop skip away from shibuya donkijote...)

and let us not forget feria and wallstreet over at pongi

I wonder how many of them are still around...

ok I still think Im a bit older though
Lexington Queen ? (when the owner Bill Hersey was still alive , after that it doesn’t count)

 

[yeti]

ok I still think Im a bit older though
Lexington Queen ? (when the owner Bill Hersey was still alive , after that it doesn’t count)

Yea man, I remember Lexington Queen.

I landed here in 2002, back when Traci ran the pink cow out of Shibuya and was frequented by Jake Adelstein & Tatsuya Fujiwara.. Spent my 20s and 30s in and aroun tokyo.

 

[CharlieSimms]

Yikes. What the pretentious faux hipster shithole the cow was. It pained me deeply whenever I was forced to visit there for some get together or other.

 

[Durg50]

Yikes. What the pretentious faux hipster shithole the cow was. It pained me deeply whenever I was forced to visit there for some get together or other.

I was once responsible for booking a group event at the pink cow, around 2008 i think, and the owner (i assume the aforementioned Traci) sent me what was basically a list of ideological positions that all attendees should hold. They were all reasonable (to me at least) but it was very strange that she felt the need to do that.

 

[Frenchy]

I was once responsible for booking a group event at the pink cow, around 2008 i think, and the owner (i assume the aforementioned Traci) sent me what was basically a list of ideological positions that all attendees should hold. They were all reasonable (to me at least) but it was very strange that she felt the need to do that.

well this is TAG so obviously we are interested in knowing the positions

 

[psd]

If you're looking to pull, international parties or just plain old bars... Aldagate, What The Dickens, The Hub (the one in Shibuya, and not the one near Camelot), standing bars (Shimbashi and/or Noge) etc...

There has never been an attractive woman at What the Dickens.

 

[yeti]

Yikes. What the pretentious faux hipster shithole the cow was. It pained me deeply whenever I was forced to visit there for some get together or other.

was? is it gone? last i heard it moved to roppongi

 

[yeti]

I was once responsible for booking a group event at the pink cow, around 2008 i think, and the owner (i assume the aforementioned Traci) sent me what was basically a list of ideological positions that all attendees should hold. They were all reasonable (to me at least) but it was very strange that she felt the need to do that.

that's an odd request , she seemed pretty open and friendly when I chatted with her.

 

[yeti]

There has never been an attractive woman at What the Dickens.

lol, lucky for me and my low standards

 

[CharlieSimms]

was? is it gone? last i heard it moved to roppongi

I only knew it when it was in Harajuku. I didn’t know it still existed. I guess there will always be a market for virgins in berets and their six months of peach fuzz writing English Haiku at the weekly poetry night. I guess I will never fit in. I can’t write a decent Haiku without wanting to use the word Nantucket somehow.

 

[MikeH]

Yikes. What the pretentious faux hipster shithole the cow was. It pained me deeply whenever I was forced to visit there for some get together or other.

I visited once and it was two times too much. Traci tried her best to fuck my mate and then we were kicked out because he refused to co-operate.

 

[MikeH]

There has never been an attractive woman at What the Dickens.

I call bullshit. I have seen one attractive female there, I proposed and she said yes.

As you would have guessed that was a girl @Frenchy brought there and of course he had to cock-block me. Still a good night.

 

[yeti]

I visited once and it was two times too much. Traci tried her best to fuck my mate and then we were kicked out because he refused to co-operate.

Is he black? that seems to be her preference in men.

 

[yeti]

I only knew it when it was in Harajuku. I didn’t know it still existed. I guess there will always be a market for virgins in berets and their six months of peach fuzz writing English Haiku at the weekly poetry night. I guess I will never fit in. I can’t write a decent Haiku without wanting to use the word Nantucket somehow.

This was many years ago (13 or so).... way before this tidal wave of wokeness hit the scene.

But yes, they used to host a vegetarian buffet, and admittedly it did have a bohemian flare to it.... being from the east cost i figured that's how they rolled California.

however, the girls were 'right', the bartender was heavy handed and I had some good conversations there.

 

[psd]

Yikes. What the pretentious faux hipster shithole the cow was. It pained me deeply whenever I was forced to visit there for some get together or other.

Most of my friends are pretentious faux hipsters and it was too much for me. I'm sure someone dragged me along.

 

[psd]

Most of my friends are pretentious faux hipsters and it was too much for me. I'm sure someone dragged me along.

I've just remembered why I went to Pink Cow, it was totally worth it

 

[Shinjuku Guy]

The bigger and more visible the places are, it seems the more likely they are to observe the rules. Hence bars, restaurants etc. in Roppongi Hills and Midtown have last orders by 20:00 and close at (latest) 21:00. Hubs and 82 Ale Houses seem to follow the rules too.

I won't drop any dimes (snitches get stitches...), but The California Pizza Place Down From Roppongi Hills has been quietly and totally ignoring the "quasi emergency" rules. Great pizza and craft beers, but alas, not much likelihood of a pick-up.

 

[Snuggles]

There has never been an attractive woman at What the Dickens.

Once! Back in 1989. My mother went to the Dickens. I hope none of you know my mother!

 

[Sudsy]

Once! Back in 1989. My mother went to the Dickens. I hope none of you know my mother!

A few of us were around Tokyo at that time... and younger and handsomer than now.

 

[MikeH]

A few of us were around Tokyo at that time... and younger and handsomer than now.

At least younger...

 

[Sudsy]

Once! Back in 1989. My mother went to the Dickens. I hope none of you know my mother!

This actually reminds me of an old joke.....

I took my dad to the mall once to get him new shoes (he is 66).

We decided to grab a bite at the food court.

I noticed he was watching a teenager sitting next to him… the teenager had spiked hair in all different colors — blue, red, green and orange.

My dad kept staring at her. The teenager would keep looking and my dad would be staring every time.

When the teenager had had enough, she sarcastically asked, “Whats the matter old man, never done anything wild in your life?”

Knowing my dad, I quickly swallowed my food so I wouldn’t choke on his response — I knew he would have a good one.

In classic style he responded without batting an eyelid: “Got stoned once and fucked a parrot. Just wondering if you were my daughter.”