Last weekend Sangenjaya's Hells Bar bar had one of the best parties I've been to in a long time. It was the official launch party of new event Cafe Kitsch, as well as the birthday celebration of Tokyo's very own resident Spyderman, and despite them not being able to turn up their bass bins (a residential thing), and the star dj not showing up (a night before thing), this little place kicked and sparkled in fine style.
The bar staff were going as hard as anyone there, and that's saying something..
The unisex toilet certainly gave credibility to the kitsch factor, with that big old vinyl sofa and an old school beatbox playing Bob Marley on entry..
Elmo was an early casualty..
And here's Jonny!
Finally, for those in need of a little bedtime story, a promo vid that Jonny put together..
Rainbow-haired tout dude is a regular fixture of the Shibuya night, most often seen as we wind our way past Wendy's while on our way out. His job is to talk passersby into eating at the Izakaya he works for, and gets a percentage of their total bill as his wage. He once told me that he can make up to 1,000,000 yen a month just by helping people choose where they eat, I was thinking to earn that kind of scratch he'd wanna be pretty convincing..
On any Friday or Saturday night, if you are walking through Shibuya or any other hub of this fine city you are bound to come across people enjoying themselves in extreme ways. Crowds of people pouring themselves out of cheap izakaya nomihodais, often expressing themselves with the kind of freedom not usually displayed in times of sobriety (ie. screaming and jumping on eachother), and occasionally tending to some poor party casualty that had momentarily forgot their limits. Party boy here just couldn't help but put on a show for my camera, and to the delight of all his friends and passersby, he successfully celebrated the animal that lies within us all..
Tokyo is most definitely a night city, to some extent almost defined by it's restaurants, bars, and clubs. One thing I have realized after all these years is how this inevitably effects your (already insanely busy) lifestyle, in both good and bad ways.
Which brings us back to Tasuichi. I can't give this place enough credit for it's consistent energy and its virtual guarantee of providing a platform for almost random interaction and fun. This place rocks, every night of the week.
