The 5, 6, 7, 8′s Live at the Boogie Shack

In January I went to see one of Japan’s legendary rock bands, the 5, 6, 7, 8′s who became famous in the west after appearing in the movie Kill Bill back in 2003. The director, Quentin Tarantino found them after hearing their songs being played in a Tokyo fashion store, and you can see him talk about it and the bands performance in the movie here. They performed as guest of one of the best Tokyo rock clubs, the Boogie Shack Rhythm & Soul Club, every first Saturday of the month at the fabulous A971 upstairs lounge in Tokyo’s Roppongi district, Tokyo Midtown. So if you are free tonight you know where to go!

Christmas at Midtown

Christmas in Japan is like Christmas in many other countries, more about by consumerism than any tradition or even religion. Families usually spend Christmas together (after work of course) with a cake and some grilled chicken, while young adults or those unattached prefer to spend Christmas eve with their sweethearts. To lure this attraction seeking young crowd many shopping centers put on light displays and events, the most popular of which are so crowded that people have to cue up to get in. There was supposed to be a huge light display at Tokyo station but when the managers understood the huge numbers of people who were likely to show up the event was actually cancelled! I happened to walk through Tokyo Midtown in the Roppongi district on Christmas eve and saw these christmas decorations. While the decorations inside the big commercial center was focused on abstract shapes there were some cute hand decorated snowmen!

Tokyo Midtown Park

Every summer Tokyo Midtown in Roppongi puts on a lot of special activities, this year it’s a water and lights show at nights and a place to cool your feet at day. Or you can just hang out in the garden with food and drinks. It’s been an extraordinarily hot summer here in Tokyo, not many days below 35 degrees and even the nights are unbearably hot, so these water mist fountains and streams of fresh water really helps! Tokyo Midtown is located between Roppongi station and Nogizaka station.

Tokyo Midtown 5th Anniversary

The last few weeks have been exceptionally rainy here in Tokyo and while passing Tokyo Midtown the other day in pouring rain I saw these decorations outside the Tokyo Midtown main tower in Roppongi. It’s a bit late to take part in the celebrations but there might still be a few events going on into late May!