Lucky Panda – Refined drinking in Tokyo

Tokyo is a paradise of many sorts – retail, fashion, cuteness and craziness – beside all this fabulousness it also excels in presenting a very cultivated drinking cultures in thousands of bars, probably the best ones in the whole world. But these bars are small, hosting only up to 6 or 8 people at a time. A cozy atmosphere that transforms strangers into friends easily. The good places are hard to find, don't go looking for them on a main street, unless there's one located on the 37th floor between two buildings. The darker the alley the better the bar.

The beauty about japanese bars is their sense of refinement, every single glass is carefully chosen and ice cubes are individually carved by hand into flawless round balls. There's even no need for conversations as your jaw usually is busy dropping every few minutes at yet another fine detail in a japanese drinking establishment.

My dearest bar in Tokyo is the Lucky Panda. It's hidden in a backstreet that served me for cutting my walk to work short and I passed this gem of a place countless times before I dared to enter. A lucky encounter indeed and on my first visit it felt more home than home. The man running this place is fully devoted to the cause of fine drinking. Besides caribbean women, this bar is his sole passion. Prices for drinks remain a mystery and the owner rather estimates each visit freely, probably taking into account how much fun the patrons had. A few hours in the Lucky Panda will open every pair of eyes to the beauty of Japans drinking culture. On a visit to Tokyo my multitalented friend Nico Nuzzaci agreed and took the fantastic shots below. "Sumimasen, Hibiki on the rocks please."
 

Tokyo Rising

Pharrell stars in this urban documentary film which is part of Palladium’s exploration series. He takes a trip to Tokyo to see how people deal with the recent earthquake & nuclear disaster. In particular he looks into the thriving music, art and fashion scene of one the most influential cities in the world. It's undeniable how much pain the 3-11 disaster brought upon Japan but this film also shows the new-won spirit of the japanese that will help them overcome the event and learn from it. The pictures are breathtaking and if you've ever been to Tokyo this will give you itchy feet to return there. A friend once said that living in Tokyo is like living in Bladerunner, but it's cleaner and the people are nice.

You can find the trailer below and see the five part full length documentary on the Palladium website.

 

Chemical Brothers on the beach

There's not much time left in Tokyo to have fun so on saturday I've set out to the Big Beach Festival 2010 with fellow W+Ker Marek & friends. Headliners were the Chemical Brothers with an out of this world 3h DJ set on the beach, during sunset, with japanese fireworks. Other highlights were Zombie Disco Squad, Sasha and Groove Armada. The sound system was fantastic and the Tokyo crowd seemed to know how to enjoy a music experience on the beach. More please.

Robbin Waldemar + Sake!

The people from W+K's studio introduced us to japanese sake. Kampai.

Rockabilly awesomeness

On today's late sunday afternoon just outside Yoyogi park near Harajuku Station some Tokyo Rockabillies are having some fun. My favourite dancing part starts 2 minutes and 5 seconds in. I should learn some of those dancemoves.

Tokyo blog

So far Tokyo has been overwhelming, in both cultural impressions and the amount of work that we have on out desks. Yet Robbin and I found some time to record some of it and we've collected the journey so far on our Robbin Waldemar blog.

It will be more of a quick photo blog and I will keep posting my thoughts here. We finished two major projects today, and I hope to reserve some time on the weekend to reflect on new learnings and to share them on here.

First saturday in Tokyo

I am now in Tokyo. The first week was full of things to take care of, practical stuff mainly and the first few days at the agency were all about getting settled. The first saturday Robbin and I spend walking around Shibuya, Harajuku and Yoyogi park. Here are some great shots that Robbin took.

Of course we visited a typical arcade and I tried my luck getting a sexy manga figurine. Better luck next time.