Roppongi Hills Bon Odori

 Obon is a 3 day long festival that is celebrated at different times in different regions of Japan, in either July or August. During this time people go and visit their families and pay respect to the spirits of their ancestors by visiting and cleaning their graves. Bon Odori is the dancing and drumming festival that takes place during this period.

We went to the Roppongi Hills Bon Odori on Sunday afternoon and had a great time watching the colourful dancers strutting their stuff.

The view from one level up at Roppongi Hills shopping centre.

The dance instructor showing us the moves.

The drummers were fantastic. Bit hard to see through the decorations.

The food stalls and beer gardens were a hit, if not a bit pricey. Not surprising considering the neighbourhood.

The oldies and the kids were all having a ball.

Lots of pretty yukatas.

Nice way to spend an afternoon or evening. The Friday evening was food stalls only, Saturday and Sunday food stalls from 3pm till 9pm and drumming/dancing between 5pm and 8pm. Held on 2nd last weekend in August every year.

Friday morning walk through Roppongi

A walk through Roppongi is never dull but last week's stroll to the train station was particularly entertaining. I was meeting my friend's parents in Shinjuku at 10am so I would have been walking along towards Roppongi station at about 9:30am last Friday morning.

I spotted passed out man No.1 in the doorway of a 7 11. He was lying in a loose fetal position, his legs were only slightly curled but his head was jammed quite tightly towards his middle. His back was up against the glass window but his arms were splayed with fingertips touching the black spongy doormat, dangerously close to the sliding door of the entrance. I watched as people approached the store, thinking that they may attempt to wake him or prop him up so his fingers were out of danger of being crushed, but no, they stepped over him and continued into the store.

Passed out man No.2 was at the bottom of the first set of stairs in the train station. He was sitting upright, knees up, with his head bent forward lolling towards his feet. He had two policemen and his friend attempting to rouse him. I observed his fly was open, giggled to myself and then continued towards the ticket gate.

This was when karma smacked me in the face for laughing at the poor unfortunates and I realized I had left my phone on the charger with my train pass in the cover. So, not wanting to be late for my friend's parents, I dashed back past the guy at the bottom of the stairs, past the 711 doorway guy and back home.

On my 2nd walk to the station, I heard a BBC English accented voice calling plaintively for my assistance. "Excuse me, excuse me! Do you speak Japanese?" a young, blonde guy called out to me, twisting his head and upper body around with some difficulty. He had a policeman holding him by each elbow. "They don't speak English, I don't know where they are taking me!"

I had to admit my Japanese was not much chop. I asked what he had done. He said he couldn't remember. I asked how long he had been in Tokyo and he said it had been his first night in the country. I tried to reassure him that they were probably only taking him to the police station at the top of the street. And they must have been called to escort him off the premises. "What premises?" he asked. As If I knew the answer to that! "I'm sure someone will speak English at the station," I attempted to reassure the confused, stumbling traveler.

And that's when I noticed the smirk on one of the policeman's faces. Ah ha! They did speak English.They knew exactly what the young drunkard was prattling on about. I smiled back at the policeman, waved goodbye to the Brit and continued on my way, confident he would be released after a warning.

Roppongi is a vicious beast. Always drawing new crowds in with flashing lights during the depths of the night and spitting them out again in the harsh glare of a new morning. Makes for pretty funny enteratinment for those of us who have become immune to her charms!

Roppongi - paradise for single blokes but no dancing allowed

A night out in Roppongi is dirty, smelly, sleazy and kind of awesome. My first night out in Roppongi was 10 days after I landed in Tokyo so it was a bit of an overload of the senses for me.

We live right near Roppongi Crossing so I had walked around many times during the daylight hours. There are plenty of international brand shops around Roppongi, many western style restaurants, art galleries and cinemas showing movies in English. Plenty of activities to keep all the expats happy.

Roppongi at night is a very different beast. Out come the cashed up gaijin (foreigners) and out come the ladies who are hoping to win their affections.

First stop for us (post a concert in Ebisu) was dinner at a back alley izakya. The atmosphere in here was loud, boozy but friendly.

The menu was a little tricky but we made friends with the group at the table next to us and they gave us some pointers. We ended up with some tasty treats to go down with our beers. 

Chicken hearts.

Bit of sashimi.

And some baked garlic, fried chicken and I can't recall what that other plate of awesomeness was....

Next stop was drinks at R2 Supperclub. R2 is a small, dark cocktail bar/lounge. Lots of drunk dudes in suits talking up their game. Met some random local guys who claimed to own Porsche dealerships.
Lots of very dressed up blonde ladies trying to attract the attention of the cigar smoking salarymen. The drinks were overpriced but delicious and the gorgeous bar men didn't hurt the eyes either! The band were very cool too. Super smooth trumpet playing by the under age kid. (He was probably really 35).

And from here the level of classiness took a steep nose dive. As we climbed the stairs up to Geronimo Shot Bar I noticed the foul stench of vomit. I should have taken this as bad omen predicting a cranking hangover in the near future and turned around and walked back out. Instead I held my nose, took a small leap over the offending puddle and pushed the door open.

We squeezed inside and found a space at the tiny elbow room only bar. I was told to avoid banging the large hanging drum unless I was happy to shout everyone at the bar a drink.

Our friend got talking to an American guy living it up on a work junket and ka-ching drinks were shouted, well for our small group anyway. I left the boys to their deep and meaningful conversation and joined some people participating in  what I found out later is an illegal activity.

 PLEASE NO DANCING
It’s prohibited by the Japanese law to dance in any commercial place in Japan. 
We don’t allow to dance in this establishment.

Thanks for the cooperation.

Yes, you read that correctly, no dancing allowed. I didn't see any warning signs about dancing posted around Geronimos. However, I was wearing my beer goggles which may have impeded my vision somewhat. Apparently these signs are posted all over the place and  at some bars in Roppongi they will hand out paper notices asking you to stop dancing. Bar staff are also expected to break up groups of people who dare to dance.

Unaware of the no dancing rules, I pulled out my best moves to Michael Jackson, Outkast & Kelis. At first, the ladies circling around in an attempt to seduce the suits at the bar, eyed me with suspicion. But once they realised a pasty white girl in jeans and converse runners was no threat to their mini skirts and doe eyed pouts some of them actually joined me for a spin.

Apparently the no dancing stuff rules all stem from a 1948 ruling which states that only bars or clubs with unobstructed floor space greater than 66 square metres are allowed to obtain the proper license to allow customers to dance. (Not many bars can afford to be that size with the price of real estate in Tokyo!)  Any clubs that have to license to allow dancing must close by midnight. Midnight! But after midnight is when all my best dance moves come to me.

So by dancing till 4am in a teeny tiny bar in Roppongi, I inadvertently broke the law. Whoops! Maybe I deserved the cracking headache I woke up with the next morning for being so ignorant about the 'Law on Control and Improvement of Amusement Business in Japan'.

Another funny rumour we heard is that dancing was banned because it is a western thing. And the Japanese didn't want the locals getting drunk, dancing and then getting intimate with the westerners. And of course, getting intimate means babies will be made. And we can't have that! Think it might be too late to prevent that outcome.... all I see around here is western dudes walking around with Japanese ladies pushing prams. Whether those prams contain their children or their pet dog wearing clothes s is a query for another time.