Tuesday 21st February

IT’S IN THE CUPBOARD:

There’s a bar in an alley in Shibuya that’s the size of a two-story wardrobe.
The ground floor is just big enough for half a dozen people to squeeze up to a
tiny bar with an upright piano concealed beneath the stairs who’s angle
one would describe as ‘Ladder’. Seating for 6-8 people in close proximity
‘upstairs’ makes for an intimate evening & no matter if the place is full
of strangers everyone leaves as friends. Decor is by ‘Granny’s Tut’ –
horse brasses, old coloured glass lamps & fake period wall lights –
the stuff of charity shops. Not the kind’ve thing that might spring to the mind of hot Western interior designers perhaps, but it works so beautifully that it’s worth buying a cola just to slip out’ve reality & into the wardrobe of dreams at the end of a long Tokyo day.
We still recount the story of a night in the wardrobe when an earthquake hit
& as the ‘building’ rocked’ the gentle clashing of the light fittings transformed the bar into a miniature concert hall filled with the music of
tiny glass glockenspiels.

(K)