japan :: tokyo :: general

[jcotteri]

yo herp.. Yeh i thought about renting, but i think it would be much better to get precall/prepaid...

man AU contract... that's gotta be an expensive luxury..

are you in japanlandz that much you can justify this? or do you have a somewhat cheaper deal including extended family?family?

[DaBestSpoona]

The party is over for the cash-flashing traders who once propped up Tokyo's Heartland bar - and for the Japanese women hoping to bag themselves a banker

Two women drinking and smoking in The Oak Door bar, a bar frequented by western investment banker type men. In the 'relationships' between western men and Japanese women in this area, the women are known as "Hills-zoku" ( or Hills Gang), named after the Roppongi Hills neighbourhood they frequent in the hope of meeting, and dating, rich Western investment bankers, in Roppongi, Tokyo, Japan

Leo Lewis

Haruna Hiraki pokes at the melting ice cubes with a perfect fingernail and frowns. She has never had to make a ginger ale last this long. It is 9.30pm, she is in an outfit that cost two months' salary and nobody has yet bought her a proper drink.

“Another 10 minutes, then we'll go?†pleads her friend Etsuko Shirasu, 25, from across the bar table.

“Waste of time. I told you this place was finished. Lehman, Goldman: they've all been sacked or gone back to America,†says Haruna, 25.

It is Thursday night and Roppongi romance - or at least, the calculated brand of romance that used to be the currency in this Tokyo bar - is at death's door. Heartland, with its low lights and brushed-steel tables, has made its name as a favourite with the financial great and good and the occasional Japanese celebrity. In the warm months drinkers spill out on to the street. However, the bar that once boomed with British brokers, Australian traders, American hedge-fund managers and those Japanese women who would love them has fallen eerily silent. More damningly, says Heartland veteran and former Roppongi barmaid Eriko Masabuchi, it has gone “image downâ€.

The well-rehearsed choreography of girls coming in from the suburbs in their finery, tasting the good life, then snagging an investment banker to prolong the party, is yesterday's dance. An entire segment of downtown Tokyo, which rose to fame and fortune with the 2003-07 bull market, has now been spectacularly snuffed out by the crash.

From the moment it opened in 2003 until just a few weeks ago, Heartland used to be the throbbing soul of the huge, glittering Roppongi Hills development. Everything that the investment banks, luxury apartments and high-end boutiques represented was nightly squeezed into that small space in one corner of the complex boisterous with money and ambition.

In its prime, the 54 storeys of the Roppongi Hills office tower were a focal point for much that was positive about Japan: it was the spiritual home of Japan's kachigumi - society's “winnersâ€. By 9.50pm, back at Heartland, two foreign men in suits have finally made a move. Haruna and Etsuko clutch new vodka tonics, but are sipping quickly: the suits worn by the men who bought the drinks don't fit right and the ties are domestic, they could even be polyester. The would-be wooers stumble on the question of what it is they actually do “in banking†and are quickly sized up as frauds, or possibly IT consultants.

The girls make excuses and head to the station for the hour-long ride back to Kawasaki: they understand economics enough to know that they will probably never find the banker ready to induct them to the “Hills Tribe†of well-dressed women living and shopping around Roppongi Hills.

“I think Heartland and the stock markets are the same thing,†says Masabuchi, drawing a downward spiral in the air, “so it is not surprising that the bar has had a kind of ‘shock' of its own. Bankers have always gone to certain bars in Japan, but the ones around Roppongi Hills are different - they became part of Japanese culture as much as expat culture.â€

It is the speed of Heartland's decline as a matchmaker between raw aspiration and raw wealth that shocks regulars at the famous bar.

In a country that measures social patterns by the decade and century, it is unprecedented to see one shatter so quickly. “There are two things happening in this bar now, and neither of them is good,†says Noel, 38, a fund manager with offices near by and an apartment even closer. “First, from our point of view, the girls have got the message that Wall Street capitalism is in trouble and the sharper ones are just not bothering to turn up. But worse is that they don't trust us any more. We've still got the nice suits and the job in finance - just about - but these chicks are smart. They know we don't carry the financial guarantees we used to.â€

The Roppongi Hills developer, billionaire property tycoon Minoru Mori, made sure that the place was stocked with tenants who would fit his image of a social and economic dynamo for new Japan. For a while the strategy worked. After gloomy years of enforced satisfaction with middle-class mediocrity, a new class of Tokyoite had emerged: young Japanese found it desirable to stand out as men and women motivated by money. Hills Tribe members were interviewed by the Japanese media as the “girl in the streetâ€; their opinion was seen to matter.

While Japan is at pains to think of itself as one huge middle class, many of the girls who shark at Roppongi Hills have jobs in nail salons that may be reasonably paid, but they still live at home. Foreign men - either for a short fling or something longer - are seen as a treat because of the money, but also because there is a view (however misguided) that Western men treat women better.

Mariko Bando, president of Showa Women's University, is one of Japan's authorities on gender issues. “Roppongi Hills came to represent the widening gap between rich and poor in Japan,†she says. “The men who worked there - partic-

ularly the foreign bankers - presented so much more than ordinary Japanese salary men could offer. Japan has had a phenomenon like this before, but the last time was the 1980s bubble, when foreigners arrived in large numbers.†It is not simply a matter of “gold diggingâ€, she says, but about finding a more attractive style of relationship.

“Of course, the interest of Japanese women in those financial businesses and the men who work there will decline, but I think that foreign men will still appeal - even the poor ones. What the Hills experience did was to show the disadvantage that Japanese men have compared with foreign men in the eyes of Japanese women. Japanese men are spoilt too much by their mothers and are just not kind enough to their women.â€

Peter, 36, a former sales trader at a large US investment bank, believes that the women of Heartland have developed a sixth sense for layoffs. “The five-year reign of the Roppongi Hills scene bred a pretty canny strain of Japanese woman. I fell in love with at least one of them. It is scary to see how quickly they've disappeared from the bars. And they started disappearing early: these girls are a market indicator to which we should all pay attention.â€

In the area's winding streets, high-end pawn shops tell their own stories of sudden downturn and furtive liquidation. Investment bankers - especially the Japanese working for US firms - have taken to nipping out at lunchtime to ditch the trinkets bought in the boom. One pawn shop, L'Ecrin, has a speciality in buying Jane Birkin edition Hermès bags from the nouveau destitute of the Hills Tribe.

Taeko Hiroguchi, 33, regards herself as one of its princesses, but even she can see that the good times have stopped. “I've found three boyfriends in Heartland: two Lehman and one from Morgan Stanley,†she says. “I even lived with one of them for a while and helped him spend his 2005 bonus. These Bulgari earrings were a present from him. Even if we were still going out, there would be no bonus this year though, right?â€

When she first moved into the apartment of her Lehman sales trader boyfriend, her friends, still living in single-room studios on the outskirts of Tokyo, were green with envy. “I'd invent excuses for them to come and visit just so I could show them the apartment and take them to coffee shops they would never normally go to,†she says. “Suddenly, this autumn, it all just stopped. In my mind I'm still a member of the Hills Tribe, I just don't have the money to behave like one.†Roppongi Hills was about more than just foreign money. Japanese wealth was created and destroyed there too. In 2006 two Japanese entrepreneurs were convicted of insider dealing and rumours of a “curse†began to circulate.

“Maybe Lehman was the final victim,†says Etsuko, before hopping on the southbound train to the suburbs. “I'll just go out in Kawasaki from now on. No rich princes to buy me champagne, but at least I can afford the first drink there on my own.â€

[cuddlysheep]

^^ so sad..nice article.

[djrajio]

The end of an era...

[jl3969]

those bitches sound like some miserable human beings

[2000dB]

those bitches sound like some miserable human beings

that's what's fun.

it's just not as fun when they start stalking you and shit...

[herpsky]

I'm not in Japan all that much.

I'm on my parent's "white plan." They basically pay for the monthly maintenance fee. It's like 10 bucks a month. When I do go home, I use all the roll-over minutes / data to text/call my hos.

Having a static email address / phone number is a big plus for me.

[djrajio]

those bitches sound like some miserable human beings

How can you blame them?

These bitches are from rural Chiba, Saitama, and shit.

They be your typical mid-twenties, nearing 30 OL bitch living with their parents, which in Japanese society dictates that they'll need to settle down and marry a typical salary-man, become a housewife, and live the mundane life.

Roppongi hills and heartland represented a different life for a lot of these women; however jaded, clouded, or utterly ridiculous it might sound.

Back in 2005; Nikkei was tops.

People were making bank and felt invincible and spent invincibly as well.

It was a good time to be in Japan.

I really really miss it.

Bitches and all.

[djrajio]

I'm not in Japan all that much.

I'm on my parent's "white plan." They basically pay everything for me. It's like 10 bucks a month. When I do go home, I use all the roll-over minutes / data to text/call my bros.

Having a static email address / phone number is a big plus for me.

Fixed it for you.

[herpsky]

lulz. that's right.

i call my nudie-wearing bros!!!

[Raskol]

Famous?

10c

[raddy]

How can you blame them?

These bitches are from rural Chiba, Saitama, and shit.

They be your typical mid-twenties, nearing 30 OL bitch living with their parents, which in Japanese society dictates that they'll need to settle down and marry a typical salary-man, become a housewife, and live the mundane life.

Roppongi hills and heartland represented a different life for a lot of these women; however jaded, clouded, or utterly ridiculous it might sound.

Back in 2005; Nikkei was tops.

People were making bank and felt invincible and spent invincibly as well.

It was a good time to be in Japan.

I really really miss it.

Bitches and all.

wish i spent more time in tokyo these past few years

[bentobox]

Anyone checking out the BBC anniversary party tonight at Zepp Tokyo?

N.E.R.D.'s awesome live performance should override the Teriaki Boyz wackness.

Starts at 6:30 though.

Who decided that Japano concerts start so early all the time?

db

[djrajio]

Who decided that Japano concerts start so early all the time?

Cuz most people need to make the last train.

[Appleseed]

I can't remember the last show I caught that didn't start AFTER the last train. It's all about school/work with an exhausted hangover.

[bentobox]

Cuz most people need to make the last train.

I understand but a 6:30 start time pretty much insures that anyone with a job can't go.

Unemployed Bapemasters only event I suppose.

db

[djrajio]

I understand but a 6:30 start time pretty much insures that anyone with a job can't go.

Unemployed Bapemasters only event I suppose.

db

Thought it was a weekend. Dunno then. Prolly aimed at college students then...

[artificialsky]

[Seething Tortoise]

[horriblyjollyjinx]

ageha yesterday turned out to be a gay event. oops. so many people using too.

[gonexgrey]

heartland article was interesting read.

im so happy the holidays start from the 27th this year. 9 days off:D

[jcotteri]

I'm not in Japan all that much.

I'm on my parent's "white plan." They basically pay for the monthly maintenance fee. It's like 10 bucks a month. When I do go home, I use all the roll-over minutes / data to text/call my hos.

Having a static email address / phone number is a big plus for me.

yeh thought as much..lol at raj

[djrajio]

What's the 411 on these parties?

Worth going?

http://www.narzib-memorimento.blogspot.com/

[dismalfuture]

raj, you gonna be in town all month? We're coming by next weekend or the weekend after.

[horriblyjollyjinx]

What's the 411 on these parties?

Worth going?

http://www.narzib-memorimento.blogspot.com/

its the same as the fashion ramone. i went to their halloween thing. interesting to go once in a while maybe, but its not great. trump room/house is sorta bad for a club event too and not a lot of people dancing.

but if youve never been you should go.

COTTON DUCK WANNA GO SHOPPING WEDNESDAY?

[djrajio]

raj, you gonna be in town all month? We're coming by next weekend or the weekend after.

Ill be in tokyo. Drop me a pm with your contact details.

[salaryman]

interesting to go once in a while maybe, but its not great. trump room/house is sorta bad for a club event too and not a lot of people dancing.

yeah, Trump room can be fun if the crowd is good, but its like Velours, etc. in that its an overstyled type club with too many chandeliers and not enough broads dancing. I don't know about those particular parties though.

Lets do a big meet up. Dismal when you decide the exact date we can start looking at what events are going on.

[Charlie Delta]

Big meet up sounds like fun!

COTTON DUCK WANNA GO SHOPPING WEDNESDAY?

Yes! Hit me a pm.

[jlow]

is there much free wi-fi around shibuya?

[dismalfuture]

Alright, Sufu Tokyo meets Sufu Seoul, aka the dismawinq connection, starting next Tuesday til the Tuesday after. Who's around town and down?