I’ve been in Tokyo a little bit more than one week. My body hurts, my head feels funny, I can’t concentrate and it hasn’t fully sunk in that I am finally here, back in Japan!
Listening to my 21st-century instincts, I know that the only thing that can help me escape the confines of this dumb body is to get lost in some very loud music. Naturally, I reach for my laptop to find a place to spend the evening. I represent the Y-generation, born with a computer and raised by the Internet and SNS. Imagine my surprise when I realize that the magical words “clubbing Tokyo” were not my Japanese Internet’s Sesame!
The search results were leading me toward bars or forums. Where was the usual infinity of clubs’ engaged in a bloody battle to reach first place on Google?
Disoriented, I started surfing different websites, jumping from forum to forum, grumbling when I would find nice comments about clubs that no longer existed. Fortunately, I stayed patient, hunting my prey in this crazy web of information without getting tired.
At last, I found one club that was the perfect answer to my prayers!
Without hesitation, I motivated my roommates (the more the merrier), tried a couple of outfits, drank a few vodka tonics – even on the other side of the earth, we French will always do an aperitif – and headed out to Jumanji 55 for a Saturday with my fantastic friends.
Jumanji 55 is easy to find. Well, you obviously can’t just follow the people in front of you because Tokyo is always crowded. But knowing that, we all had a look on Google maps and the official website of the club. We found it easily. What we didn’t know was that we happened to find the place on a special party night. Paying the usual ￥1,000 per person (both men & women), we went upstairs to enjoy one of Tokyo's cheapest nomihodai (all-you-can-drink) deals. While we were there on a Saturday, the nomihodai apparently starts every day at 7pm and cuts off at 11. Being a special anniversary night for the club, ladies were able to drink for free for the rest of the night. We enjoyed this of course!
Even though the bar has many “no dancing” signs, after a few drinks, nobody paid attention to this. Many people started to arrive around 9.30pm, so if you like crowds, you'll want to wait until a little later than that.
The nice lady at the entrance told us that at 11:30pm we should go down to enter another door – this one led us to a tiny club called New Planet, which was perfect for enjoying the sardine-experience of being stuck to your neighbors.
The club was small but the mood was good, so we really enjoyed our time there (yeah, it is true that vodka, tequila and champagne are great instigators in helping you love everyone and everything). Still, all the other guests were happy to talk with everyone, making new friends. It was a really warm atmosphere that makes you enjoy your night!
I definitely will go back there for many reasons: the entrance is cheap; you really get all-you-can-drink (be careful not to get sick – the bathroom is often checked by the staff and it is not fun to drink that much); the staff is nice and even come to your table to take your order; the drinks are good; the choice is ok – vodka, tequila, whisky, beer, softdrinks; the atmosphere is nice; the music is for all styles; and at 11.30 New Planet opens – no entrance fees with our magic yellow wristband that we got at Jumanji 55. Good dance music in New Planet and wide choice of drinks.
See you there!
