The people behind the Tokyo Rockin' Nightlife page have now opened a café, where you can hang out with other music fans, get information about upcoming gigs, and treat yourself to coffee and food (vegan and gluten free options available)!
The café is open It is in the same Shimokitazawa place as legendary music bar Poor Cow, so why not come back after they close and talk music all night!
Opening hours: Tuesdays to Saturdays, noon to 5PM.
There is lots of great music in Japan but if you want to see a really good band in Tokyo, it can still be hard to know where to go, especially if you are only visiting and don't know the language. Here at Tokyo Deep we used to run weekly updates of the best gigs of the week, but sadly do not have the time for this anymore. The venerable Tokyo Gig Guide is still around but can be confusing and is mainly reliant on user-submitted gigs. So what to do if you want a curated, high-quality guide to the best gigs?
Enter Tokyo Rockin' Nightlife! This new blog was started by Masaya, who lives in Setagaya, Tokyo and mainly hangs out in rockin' Shimokitazawa. Masay plays guitar in two bands, DARK THE GIANT and OCHA∞ME, which are well worth seeking out.
The main feature of Tokyo Rockin' Nightlife is a detailed list of upcoming shows. This is very similar in genre to the old Tokyo Deep listings, but is made even better by live videos for many of the bands, so you can check them out before you go. Great idea!
Masaya has also listed some cool local places (including several Tokyo Deep favorites) and gives some helpful tips on how to attend a live gig in Tokyo.
I'm really happy to see this excellent new source of information for Tokyo nightlife and rock-n-roll, and wish Masaya the best luck in the future! Here he is himself on guitar with power popers Dark the Giant:
