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Nightlife - Tokyo Hotels .com

The cosmopolitan splendor of Tokyo is well reflected in the variety of bars, nightclubs, and other nightlife scattered among the city's neon lights and paper lanterns.

Tokyo's live music venues offer something for all tastes, from cutting-edge punk to fifteenth-century compositions. For live rock, pop, or electronica, check the schedules at clubs such as the Liquid Room in Shinjuku-Shibuya and the Gas Panic in Akasaka-Roppongi. For jazz enthusiasts, clubs such as Minato's Blue Note Tokyo offer internationally renowned musicians nightly. Or to enjoy Japan's centuries-old music traditions, try an outdoor Noh performance by the famous Kanze No-Gakudo troupe.

When you feel like hitting the dance floor, Tokyo Loose in Kabukicho and Xanadu in Shibuya are popular with the dance-til-dawn types. Karaoke bars such as Big Echo in Roppongi and downtown offer drinks and singing until dawn. For a cocktail with a view, the elegant "Lost in Translation" bar at the top of Hyatt Park Hotel in Shinjuku-Shibuya provides a beautiful perspective. Tokyo's fun-loving rooftop beer gardens, open during the summer at many large department stores, will lift you and your lager above the city's cares.

Like any large and vibrant city, Tokyo also has its fair share of clubs catering to the gay and lesbian community. Mainly clustered in the Ni-Chome neighborhood of Shinjuku-Shibuya, Lesbian-Gay Bars such as Art Farty, Kinswomyn, and Advocates Cafe provide ample opportunity for drinking, mingling, and often dancing.

If you're looking for good drink deals, good food, and an authentic local-tavern experience, try an Izakaya (Japanese Tavern) (also called "nomiya"). Each izakaya offers its own decor style, inexpensive menu, and drink predilections, and more traditional izakayas will have a red lantern (akachochin) hanging outside. For an even more casual atmosphere, find a yakitori-ya and kick back over a skewer of meat and some kettle-warmed sake.