Global Players Lounge

Clubs in Tokyo

Club Tatou
7-6-2 Roppongi, Minato-ku (5411 4433)
Roppongi station. Open 9pm-5am Thur-Sat. Admission Thur men ¥3,000 (incl two drinks), women free; Fri, Sat ¥3,000 (incl two drinks), free before 10pm. Dress code smart.
Once an exclusive French diner, Tatou Tokyo recently transformed itself into a disco. It hasn't lost any of its exclusivity, though, and you have to dress smart, otherwise they won't let you in. Music is mainly soul, with occasional live performances on Friday nights.

Cafe & Club Fura
3-26-25 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku (5485 4011)
Shibuya station. Open 5pm-5am daily. Admission free Mon, Wed for women, Tue-Thur before 10pm, Fri-Sun before 9pm; ¥2,500 after 10pm Tue-Thur (incl two drinks); men ¥3,000 after 9pm Fri-Sun (incl two drinks); women ¥2,500 after 9pm Fri-Sun (incl two drinks).
Dress code not too casual.
Fura is a four-storey complex with an Italian restaurant on the first floor, a relatively roomy dancefloor on the second and a bar-cum-lounge space on the floor above. The entry charge system is complex, but must be working: the place is heaving, even on weekdays, with Thursday nights the busiest.

Club J Trip Bar
The Wall Bldg B1/B2, 4-2-4 Nishi-Azabu, Minato-ku (3409 7607)
Hiroo station. Open 8pm-5am Wed-Sat. Admission ¥2,500 Wed, Thur (incl two drinks); men ¥3,000 Fri, Sat (incl two drinks); women ¥2,500 Fri, Sat (incl two drinks). Dress code not too casual.
Back in the bubble years of the '80s, J Trip Bar was a Tokyo legend. Then, like all legends, it began to fade. In January last year, it reopened as Club J Trip Bar, and it hasn't looked back since. Gone are the young high-school kids who made real clubbers' lives a misery, and the average age of the punters has shot up to the mid-20s. The club has five massive dancefloors where you can get down to music from the '80s and early '90s, and a café, Hi-Ball, that serves Italian food.

Velfarre
Velfarre Bldg, 7-14-22 Roppongi, Minato-ku (3402 8000)
Roppongi station. Open 6pm-1am Fri, Sat; 6pm-midnight Thur, Sun. Admission Thur men ¥3,000 (incl two drinks), women ¥2,000 (incl two drinks); Fri-Sun men ¥4,000 (incl three drinks), women ¥3,000 (incl three drinks). Dress code not too casual.
Website: http://velfarre.avex.co.jp/
The largest disco in Asia, Velfarre reopened for business in March 1998. This gigantic disco and live house space, with a capacity of over 2,000, is a real throwback to the mirrorball days of the '80s, with marble staircases and other extravagances thrown in. It has a vast dancefloor with an automated movable stage and giant mirror ball at the bottom, and more bars, restrooms and snack bars than you can count. If you're feeling brave, try and blag your way into one of the VIP lounges, from where you can watch the action without actually having to dance.

Club Complex Code
Shinjuku Toho Kaikan 4F, 1-19-2 Kabuki-cho, Shinjuku-ku (3209 0702)
Shinjuku station. Open varies with event. Admission ¥2,500 Mon-Thur (incl two drinks); men ¥3,000 Fri-Sun (incl two drinks); women ¥2,500 Fri-Sun (incl two drinks). Dress code no sandals. b
Website: http://www.so-net.ne.jp/CYBERJAPAN/
With three dancefloors (two small, one gigantic), Club Complex Code is a monster nightclub that can host a variety of different events and special nights (sometimes at the same time). Its location on the fourth floor of a Kabuki-cho building means that from the outside you get no impression of its size: with a capacity of 2,000 people, Code is one of the biggest clubs in Japan. The biggest of the three dancefloors is called `En-Code', and is sometimes used as a live stage. En-Code itself has a capacity of 1,000 people and four gigantic screens where you can watch the VJs doing their stuff. Sub-floor `De-Code' holds 120 people and has terminals for those who'd rather surf the Net than strut their stuff. There is also a main bar room and lounge, `Ba-Code', and a snack bar beside the main floor, where a ¥500 token buys you anything from a bottle of mineral water to a small buffet. On Friday Tokyo's No.1 house DJ, Ko Kimura, fills up the space with `Passion', and on Thursday nights DJ Yo-C, Nao Nakamura, Take and Monobe take the helm of a warp house and hard house party, `Nu-Disko'. Nao Nakamura also spins on a regular gay night, `Friends', on the last Sunday of the month. Although Code hosts many popular events, it is slightly let down by the sound system, which suffers from the size of the dancefloor.

Ring
Kohama Bldg 1F/2F, 1-8-8 Nishi-Azabu, Minato-ku (5411 4300)
Roppongi station. Open 8pm-5am daily. Admission ¥2,500 Mon-Thur (incl two drinks); men ¥3,000 Fri-Sun (incl two drinks); women ¥2,500 Fri, Sat (incl two drinks); women free Sun. Dress code not too casual.
Look out for a small sign on Roppongi Dori that says `Ring' and you've found this place, which plays soul and R&B classics to an appreciative crowd. After its low-key exterior, the size of the dancefloor and bar areas is a pleasant surprise. Expect crowds on Friday and Saturday.

Club Kuaile
Square Bldg 10F, 3-10-3 Roppongi, Minato-ku (3470 7421)
Roppongi station. Open 9pm-5am daily. Admission ¥3,000. Dress code no sandals or shorts.
Club Kuaile's main bill of fare is speed garage, pumped out at high volume through a superior sound system. A roomy venue with great views over Roppongi from its tenth-floor vantage point.