Roppongi

Roppongi became a nightlife district because of the American military. Occupation forces took over the barracks here after 1945, bars opened for them, and the area kept the reputation long after the soldiers thinned out. That history explains both why so much English is spoken here and why the district still has an edge to it. What changed it was art. Roppongi Hills opened in 2003 with the Mori Art Museum on the 53rd floor, which puts a serious contemporary gallery above an observation deck with a view over the whole of Tokyo. The National Art Center followed in 2007, a Kurokawa Kisho building with an undulating glass front and no permanent collection at all, only visiting exhibitions. The Suntory Museum of Art in Tokyo Midtown completes what the tourist office calls the Art Triangle. Between them the three cover more ground than any comparable cluster in the country. Louise Bourgeois's giant bronze spider stands outside Roppongi Hills and has become the neighbourhood's landmark. Azabudai Hills, ten minutes' walk south and opened in 2023, has Japan's tallest building and teamLab Borderless in its basement. The honest part. The bars along the main strip employ touts, and there is a long record of drink-spiking and inflated bills serious enough that several embassies have issued warnings about specific streets. Declining the man on the pavement and picking your own bar removes most of the risk, though it is not a guarantee. Do not follow anybody anywhere. Tokyo Tower is a fifteen-minute walk east and looks better from Roppongi's streets than from its own base.