41.
Cruising bar with darkroom
TOM'S Bar Berlin seems to be quite famous. My friend and I went there on a monday night (midnight to 2am). It was surprisingly packed. Maybe because monday nights they have a Happy Hour - 2for1. In the bar area there were lots of guys chatting. The crowd was quite good, lots of butch, big (athletic/muscular) guys. Also lots of leather guys. The bar is known for its darkroom, which is in the basement. Went down there, it was packed with guys standing around, looking, staring.... but for some reason not much action. Saw just one guy naked with another guy, going for it. Everyone else just standing around. Kinda weird. Maybe people get more relaxed in later hours and with a couple of more drinks :P
My favorite in the world so far
I really like this sauna. Great facilities, clean, very modern, big, lots of hot guys. Very cruisy, lots of action. Love it. So far, the best sauna I have been to - and I have been to quite a few in North America, Europe and Asia.
Just not my kind of music
Ok, positive things first: The venue is big-ish. 3 dance floors. Lots of people, almost packed, people are in a good mood. Negative things? I just don't like the music. They did have a few songs I like, but it totally wasn't my thing. A friend took me there, so I couldn't help it. I guess I won't visit again. Too poppy, teeny, 80s... I wish they at least put some more beats in those tracks.
Great Hotel in Shinjuku, convenient location
This hotel is just 1min walk from Shinjuku Station. It is very conveniently located. I think for its class it is definately not overpriced. One night in a single room (queen size bed) cost USD 120 last time I stayed there. It is a new hotel (opened in 2007). The lobby is very nice. Offers free internet in your room in case you bring your laptop along. If not, there is a room with computers and free internet, just ask at the checkin for its location. Hotel rooms in Tokyo are usually not spacious, this one isn't either. But I personally don't mind that. I recommend to take the "Vista" room. Vista rooms have a much nicer bathroom than the standard rooms. it comes at a premium, though, but not too expensive.This is definately my favorite hotel in Shinjuku and Tokyo.
Great place on sunny, warm days....
Advo(cates) is a very tiny bar. The "inside" of the bar can only accomodate like ... 6 people. The bar puts up chairs and tables outside and on spring/summer nights a huge crowd stands in front of the bar chatting, giggling, laughing, crying... having a good night out. That's why I consider this bar to be more outdoors than indoors. On warm, sunny days this is the place to be. It gets quite packed on friday and saturday nights. The crowds come around 10:30 - 11pm and start their night out with a couple of drinks here. On some occasions the owner hires an outdoor DJ or has a bartender do some acrobatic stunts outside to entertain the ppl. The downside is that as soon as it rains or gets cold in winter this place dies out. On dry/sunny winter evenings people still stop by, as they provide outdoor gas radiators. but still, quite empty compared to the hot summer nights. I like this place, just too bad that it's notoriously empty on winter nights or rainy days.
Art(y)... or Fart(y)?
I never got over the name of this place. Who would call his own club "Arty _Farty_"? That only brings negative associations for the foreign - or English speaking visitors of this club. Anyway, in Tokyo's Ni-choma gay scene Arty Farty is the most hated and most visited club at the same time. It is funny how everyone keeps saying "I hate Farty", "I dont like going to Arty"... But in the end, everyone ends up there anyway. So what does a regular Tokyo Ni-chome night out look like? During the happy hours from 6/7 to 9pm you'd be in Advocates and get all-you-can-drink beer for JPY 1000 or in Dragon for all-you-can-drink-cheap-cocktails for JPY 1000. After that (9pm) you either stay put or you switch places to other bars. When you're drunk enough you start to feel like dancing, so you think about clubs you could go to. If you're unlucky there are no monthly gay clubbing events that night and you have to stick with nichome clubs. Cheapest and most popular place to go? Arty is it then! On regular nights it's free of charge to get in, but minimum consumption of 1 drink upon entry (normal drinks costs JPY 700, cheaper ones JPY 600). Arty Farty is a quite small and very _very_ packed club. The crowd is mostly young Japanese boys (barely 18 - and therefore not legal visitors to the club as you need to be at least 21 in Japan), Japanese in their early 20s and foreigners in their 20s-30s. Sometimes you can spot a foreigner or a Japanese in his 40s or 50s, but that rarely happens - and usually are the same 2-3 guys all the time :P Musicwise they play mostly Pop remixes, like Britney, Beyonce, Madonna, Kylie... but also quite lots of Japanese pop music (Amuro Namie). Sometimes when the DJ feel funny he plays some electronic tracks - much to my liking. The crowd is quite fun, people get all wasted, do group dances on the stage. Be aware, though! In winter as in summer, it get quite hot and sweaty in there. So you would'nt wanna even stand in there with anything long sleeved. So in winter or when it rains, be sure to get there early, grab a locker to put your stuff (umbrella, coat, backpack/bag) in there, visit other places and come back later for clubbing. If it wasnt for the music and sweat (they should turn up the A/C a bit more!) I'd rate this place with one more star ;)
Becoming more and more popular it seems
When I first moved to Tokyo this place wasn't too popular. Even on friday or saturday nights it would be quite .... not so packed. Somewhen between last winter and spring more and more people seemed to start liking Dragon. Especially saturday nights (11pm~) seem to be happening. Maybe it's because they started hiring foreign bartenders "boys", who occasionally walk around in nothing but underwear. It certainly also helped introducing a happy hours between 1 and 2am, when for one drink paid you get the same one for free - 2for1. Another aspect is that especially in winter/when it's chilly outside, it's good to have a big(-ish) bar to go to, that's indoors. As opposed to Advocates, which is quite popular in spring/summer, but being mostly outdoors has a hard time finding customers when it's cold or when it rains. Dragon attracts lots of foreigners and Japanese who like them. On the TV screens they usually show movies, but occasionally the owner would put on some "Dieux du Stade" or porn DVD ;)
Foreigner meets Japanese and vice versa
The crowd here is mostly foreigners and Japanese in their 30s - 40s. When you go there you will mostly see two guys chatting, one will be a foreigner and the other one will be Japanese. This place doesn't have too many visitors in their 20s. I am in my 20s, I don't really like the place, but I don't hate it either. When you enter the room it seems like a meat market - everybody stares at the new people entering the room. But still, I quite like the 4 TV screens showing the music videos to music playing through the speakers. the atmosphere is quite cozy.
Like it :)
Great place to go. Never tried any other gay saunas in Tokyo. There are quite a few - gay saunas and crusing spots. The problem is, that some gay saunas/cruising spots deny entry to foreigners/non-asians/non-japanese or non-japanese speaking people. This one (24 Kaikan) definately welcomes foreigners. The location (in the middle of the gay district) is great, so you can always stop by after or during a night out. With JPY 2600 (USD 28) I find it is a bit on the expensive side, but you won't really find much cheaper places that offer the same variety of facilities. Steam, sauna, different pools (~20°C, ~35°C and 40+°C), shower cabins with glory holes, sling room, another (not so hot) sauna (but for hot action)... tanning... Plus another 3 floors on top of that for group beds (where people usually don't sleep... but rather shag). private rooms. another video room upstairs. On the first floor (below the sauna/pool floor) there are the lockers, TV room and a bar, where you can order food and/or drinks. The crowd is mainly Japanese, but there are quite a few foreigners, too. The thing with Japanese is that they are usually quite shy. So it almost never happened to me that someone came up to me to talk and.. more ;) As I am quite shy, too, I rarely do the first step. In dark places then, Japanese do start grabbing/touching, etc. Usually happens in the steam or mist room. Or in the glory hole showers. Definately a lot of action going on there. Went there on several occasions... friday, saturday, sunday nights. Of course saturday night is the most packed, I guess I prefer friday night, still packed, but not too packed. You pay JPY 2600 for 13 hrs. I give it 4 stars just because Japanese people are a bit shy and getting some action takes a bit more time than in the western hemisphere (aka North America and Europe).
Peaches & Cream
I went there for their friday night "Peaches & Cream" event. I am not particularly into Pop/RnB/70's/80's music when it comes to dance clubs. I just went there to show my friend around - knowing that he totally is into that kind of music. To my surprise I have to say, though, I quite enjoyed it. At the beginning (around 1am) we were disappointed how empty it was. We were about to head back home, when around 2am we noticed that more and more people were coming. That's when the real party started. All 3 floors were packed and people were having a good time. In the end it was a surprisingly good night out. I only give it 4 stars just because I preferred GMF. But then again, both places don't really compete as "Peaches & Cream" is on friday nights, whereas GMF is on sundays.
THE place to be on a sunday!
I went to SchwuZ the night before and got a free entry ticket for GMF. Me and my friend didn't wanna go out on a sunday for several reasons: we got too wasted the past 3 nights already and wanted to relax; we thought, a sunday night might be crap as people have to work on mondays... etc. I can only say: LUCKILY we went there. Even better that it was for free. Loved the venue, two floors. 12th floor of that building plays pop/rnb/chart-music, while on the 15th floor they play electronic music. The place was packed. People were in a good mood, music was good (at least for me & my friend's taste). The place itself I liked, too (deco, etc). Of all nights I went to clubs in Berlin, this was the best one. My friend also favorited this night.
It's back at Goya (Nollendorfplatz)
Back to its old/original location @Goya. Went there, paid EUR 12 cover charge. What can I say... maybe our expectations were too high? I was underwhelmed by the party. I am mainly into electronic music, which is why I didn't care much that the pop room was quite tiny - my friend did care. Anyways, we sticked to the main/big electronic floor. It was disappointing that there were not so many people. Or - put in a different way - the venue was too big for the amount of people. The music was so-so (but that of course depends on one's personal taste). I wouldn't go there again... especially not considering the 12 Euros. I guess that's the main reason why not too many people go there.
Was it the wrong time to go?
I went there on a friday night around 11:30pm. It was dead. There were like 3 people sitting inside, so me and my friend left immediately without getting any drinks. I am wondering whether it was the wrong night/time to go?