Please, hold on for a new improved club database coming soon (but not too soon !).

In the meantime, the word is that Yellow is closing down. If you like the place, drop by to give it a farewell.

Old clubs go and new one open. I haven’t had a chance yet to try it, but I’ve heard some good things about Shibuya’s Camelot. It seems that it somewhats inherits from the old Vanilla (Roppongi).. including special discounts for women and foreigners (!), with the proper flyer.

..until then..
poof !
- DGP

The place was packed and it was a chore to even order drinks. Nonetheless we managed to enjoy ourselves.

The trouble arrived when we wanted to leave. At first we couldn’t find the key of the locker, so I asked to the “friendly” staff by the entrance and the guy told me that we’d have to wait until the night was over.. what ??
Then I asked him if I could walk 10 meters upstair to get phone connection to make a call, and the guy insisted that I could not cross some imaginary line. All I needed was to walk upstair make a call and go back down, in full view of the staff, but they wouldn’t let me no matter what.

The real problem with Yellow is that the staff is pretty rude and inflexible. Some bartenders are nice, but the other staff can’t even crack a smile when you hand those 4000 yen at the entrance.
I’m not sure what the deal is, but Yellow’s service is definitely below-standard. That is probably a minor issue, unless you’ve been spoiled by the excellent service that one gets in most other shops in Japan 8)

As a final note, when there are those big events I suggest going early (11 PM or so), otherwise you may end up waiting outside and not being able to find a locker (we were lucky !).

Before going to Air we were at a nearby hidden bar with no name (can’t get any more difficult !). The bar with no name has no homepage and no telephone.. but we managed to snatch a flyer from last week, with some directions. It’s a small place and not necessarily too packed but the view is cool and nothing beats walking 30 minutes trying to find the place ;)

At 5AM we then left Air and headed for some after hours at Yellow.. but frankly we couldn’t keep up with most of the late birds there, so we finally gave up at 8 in the morning.

Oh well.. !

Back from a night out in Roppongi. I met MilanoCookie and Mac’n'Roe at Heartland. We aren’t really big fans of that bar so we went straight down Nishi-Azabu crossing aiming to Xross.
As we passed in front of Muse we felt somewhat compelled to get in, but I kept pushing for Xross: not yet another Muse-night, please !

We entered for the full price of ¥3500/2D. We used to get discounts when purchasing a ticket or when leaving, but that policy apparently changed (also possibly because we haven’t been bringing girls with us recently.. gomen ne !).
We got in by 12:30 AM and it was somewhat empty. As time passed by more people came in, but it wasn’t nearly as full as last time.
We suspect that alife‘s recent renewal has been drawing customers away from Xross. The club itself also hasn’t been doing very much to keep its clientèle: no more discounts, no member card thing even though we’ve been filling out forms the last few times we went (waste of my freaking time !).
By 1:30 AM the usual Japanese-disco’s Bon Jovi mix got us excited, though alcohol must have played a role as well ;)
The music wasn’t half bad.. same as usual, popular Japanese-disco stuff. Notably without young punks screaming odore. We haven’t seen those recently, could it be that it went out of fashion ? One can only hope so.

Girls didn’t seem gaijin-friendly at all. As usual with Japanese girls, the ones checking us out where those that came with their Japanese boyfriends: “I look at you and my bf gets jealous ! I’m so transgressive !” ..rightt.

In conclusion, our balance for the night is positive, but only because we had fun dancing, drinking and chatting among ourselves.
Xross was definitely not at its best, quite possibly suffering from the surge of popularity of the renewed alife.
We didn’t like the fact that Xross has been stingy with those invitations/discounts. Nor we liked the fact that we never got any sort of feedback from those membership forms we carefully filled up 2-3 times already (I give you my cell’s email and you don’t even care to spam it ?!).

Next week we are definitely off to alife. Getting in before 11 PM for ¥2500 less than Xross. Much cheaper, possibly much more interesting and a lot more crowded.. though that’s not necessarily a good thing.

Highlights for the night:

• Drunken Tequila-girl being dragged upstairs by a security guy. Did she try beat up someone ?! I thrive at the thought.
• A couple of guys wearing wool hats getting on each other’s case. What’s this ? A stupid-wool-hat gangs thing ?

We had fun, but Xross did not provide the best environment for the night.

Time to sleep !

I made 4 prints for me and my friends and, sure enough, I forgot them at home 8)

I arrived to Yellow at about 12:30 AM with two of my friends. Because there wasn’t visible traffic going in, we decided that I would go first to check the situation and eventually call them in or just split the cost of my ticket and leave. It can be risky with those event-based clubs, so it’s better to be safe.

I was in by 12:40, I used my drink ticket and walked around the club to asses on the situation. Frankly there were very few people. The real problem, however, was that nowhere in the club (which is below street level) I could get my Softbank cellphone to connect to communicate with my friends waiting outside.
I went by the exit and asked for help to a girl from the staff that was helping the cashier. She told me to go up a staircase where I’d get signal. I tired but that didn’t work for me, so I asked her if I could go up the stair towards the exit where I’d certainly get signal. She told me to ask to some other guy at the entrance. I asked him and he was pretty strict about me not crossing some sort of stupid virtual line.
At that point my only options were either to scream out loud hoping that my friends waiting by the entrance would hear me, or leave.

I decided for the second option and walked out with a grumpy “Sayonara” to the anal door-guy.
Disappointed with the weak start, I consulted my friends and we decided to head for the nearby Muse.
We talked a bit outside and got in by 1:30 AM or so.
There, women would just pour in… no event, same old Muse.. drink, walk around and talk to your friends, unless you are in the mood to chase girls.
Notice that at Muse, female bartenders tend to get cuter everyday one ever got her teeth whitened as a result of the recent club restructuring. They now all wear miniskirts and are throw in the round bar by the entrance, where men stick around and keep ordering drinks just to see the girls walk left and right with those great legs (trust me, I’m a “legs-man” ;).

Alcohol + hormone = big bucks.. and, in fact, I also noticed that Muse seems to be launching some sort of kyabakura activity during weekdays. I saw a couple of ads scattered inside the men’s restroom, nonetheless. They redirected to the club’s site, but we can’t find anything there. Frankly, most clubs’ web-sites are all Flash and no contents.
Interesting anyway to see how Muse is getting Japanized everyday. It’s getting larger, girls are cuter and younger. More and more popular with the younger salarymen, and now even the hostess-bar spin-off !

To summarize the night:

• We didn’t like Yellow uncertain event, utter lack of keitai signal and staff unwillingness to make us walk 10 meters up some stair to make a phone call.
  When going at Yellow, always bring your ID and make sure it isn’t dead inside. Also don’t rely on your cellphone to work.
• Muse was the same old, actually nicer since last restructuring (more space, and whitened bartenders), but you go there to drink with friends and socialize with the opposite (or same ?!) sex. Don’t go there if you just want to dance away.

Until next weekend…

- DGP out