Even 20 years ago I was too old for Gas Panic. Motown is opening an establishment in Iidabashi, I wonder how it will be.
Yes, let’s get that Tokyo “Glow in the Dark” Dopefest going!
Hey, if I get that job and they send me to Japan… 
(Of course, I’ll have to restart the Japanese lessons.)
Haha, the moment I saw the OP I thought “Motown.” Was it the upstairs one or the ground level one? I had one or two good evenings with friends at the ground level one, where the crowd seemed mostly locals/salarymen, but the upstairs one has always been largely foreign and a bad combination of Marines, other ragtag non-Japanese guys, and hookerish looking non-JP women (or maybe, “women.”). A co-worker got into a very animated discussion with a Korean pro till I talked him down.
Both joints do have good classic rock soundtracks/DJs. The ground floor one also had a bartender who was generous with the pours for me, a memory I cherish . . . .
Gaspanic near Roppongi may be the worst place I’ve been in, and I’ve been in hellish bars. Funnily Gaspanic Shibuya was more locals and seemed to me a lot more tolerable (as such things go).
The upstairs one is the original. The newer one unfortunately seems to have closed, but I don’t know when. How long ago were you there? As I said in an earlier post, Motown went threw some really rough periods. I don’t know what it’s like on a Friday night now.
There was another place in Shibuya, Zanadu, which was also mostly local Westerns, and pretty cool. My friend and I met some super friendly fellow American guy there once. Winds up that he’s involved in some multi-level marketing thing. I tell him I’m not interested and my friend makes an appointment at some way out of the way place and then doesn’t show up.
A few months later, my friend and I are back there, and the same guy approaches us again, obviously forgetting that we’ve talked. He’s got a Japanese girlfriend in tow this time.
Same things again, just the friendliest person in the planet, super interested in us, eye contact, light jokes, the right level of laughing, he’s the perfect salesman.
Just as he starts to talk to us, with the chitchat, “where are you from?” then another target of his comes by. (Have I lost you yet? There is Me, My Friend, Mr. Sales, Mr. Sales’ girlfriend and now Mr. Sales’ Other Target.)
Mr. Sales jumps all over Other Target (who is just leaving, so I presume Mr. Sales is trying one more time to get an appointment) Girl Friend suddenly has to carry the conversation.
She doesn’t know that we know what the score is. It’s obvious that she’s under instruction to be eye candy but to not say anything. My friend goes for the kill. “So what does your boyfriend do?” Her mouth opens but no words come out. She looks to her boyfriend for help, but he’s talking to Other Target. My friend gives her a bunch of shit. “So you don’t know what he does for money?” Poor girl.
I was at the downstairs Motown . . . last March? Seemed to be doing well.
For Shibuya, we found (then could not re-locate – damned twisty streets and lack of GPS!) a cool classic rock place, mostly JP clientele, called Club Big. Fun spot.
Bars are tricky there for me. Hotel bars with Cuban cigars and brandy, fine. But outside of that, I felt limited to dance clubs (no for me), Irish pubs (drunk Australian tourists, been there done that), and super gaijin-unfriendly fourth floor tiny shochu parlors or the like. The rock places, as Motown aspired to, seemed the least-worst mixture of non-tourist (?), some locals, but not requiring native conversation skillz. Recommendations welcome for more options as I’ll be there next month . . . .
Tell him first thing tomorrow morning.
I don’t know much about Tokyo, but in Osaka Irish bars are filled with drunk Americans, not Australians. Not just drunk though, drunk American guys who like to intimidate Japanese guys with their size. Despicable people, in other words.