Roppongi Nights

One of the most common things for young tourists to do is to go on a “pub crawl”, it’s basically where you pay a tour guide to take you to a couple of bars and see things that you, as a foreigner, wouldn’t normally see. Initially I was going to do the big Tokyo Pub Crawl that I’d heard about, but I decided to look on Airbnb for something a bit more intimate. There were plenty of options to choose from. “Green” pub crawl, “LGBT” pub crawl, an “Alternative” pub crawl, but eventually I decided to attend one hosted by a young black American guy - I try to keep money in the community when I can.

It was the night before a Cyclone was scheduled to hit Japan and it was raining kinda hard. So hard that no one else showed up for the pub crawl but me. I didn’t mind, as I was looking for intimacy, and me and the guides went about our way. Eventually we picked up some more of their friends and headed to a few clubs. It was what happened at the second club that caught me off guard.

By the time we arrived at the second club, it had been about 3 hours since I first met my guide and we had a group of about 10 young people club hopping. It was one of the guide’s last weekend in Tokyo, and he guide knew a some of the promoters so we got to go to VIP - I didn’t mind, of course. I was near the end of the line and as soon as I got my wristband, the bouncer stopped me and asked me if two of the Japanese women in the group were with me.

WERE. WITH. ME.

I was shocked, but I was trying to look cool so I stoically gave him a nod and he let them in. Of course had I said no, the women would’ve protested and got in but for a split second I was the literal gatekeeper for Japanese in Japan at a Japanese establishment. I’d never been in this position before and it was a bit odd to say the least.

A bit of background on the club. It was a hip hop club that was filled with plenty of Japanese people but a large amount of American blacks as well, so I guess I fit the demo. People were dancing and it was honestly a great time, but for some reason I kept coming back to the encounter at the door for the entirety of the night. I can’t image a time when in the United States when a foreigner would act as a gatekeeper to an American citizen entering an establishment (with the exception of maybe an embassy) yet here I was. I think this incident is a testament to African American’s unique position in the world. We are so many times seen as a source of trepidation, but somehow this trepidation doesn’t overcome out innate cultural value. We’re wanted as a people much more than I think we give ourselves credit for, and that’s a shame.

While traveling abroad, one thing that continuously presented itself was the ubiquitousness of African American culture in almost every corner of every city I’ve been to. From our clothes, to our music, to our hair, to our language, to our religion, black Americans seem to make our worth known everywhere we go, and people will go out their way to be in our presence.

The club I where this incident transpired is known as a club where African Americans congregate thus it is a place that is in high demand in Tokyo. It’s a place where it seems more likely for a random black guy to be in VIP than it is for two Japanese women. It’s a curious place to be as a foreigner (and as a man, but that’s for another article) because on one hand I feel like the club assuming that I should be in VIP because of my race is a bad thing, but also on some level I feel like I deserve to be treated that way. If people were coming to the club to party with the black Americans then at a bare minimum, the bouncers should’ve treated me like a VIP, but should this happen at the expense of others? It’s almost like a false paradox, can one be treated preferentially without it being at the expense of an other? The answer is no, but for some reason that rings false to me.

This post has to answer and deeper philosophical solution - just something that I’ve never experienced and am trying to work though.

It really was a good night though, even if I did lose my phone.