Tokyo Blog News!

Roppongi is a district in the Minato City Ward of Tokyo, famous for its nightlife and two new, large building complexes, Roppongi Hills and Tokyo Midtown. It has also gained a name as a cultural center thanks to the presence of several art museums.

The area around Roppongi Station is Tokyo’s most popular nightlife district among foreigners, offering a large number of foreigner friendly bars, restaurants and night clubs. Roppongi and the surrounding districts of Azabu, Hiroo and Akasaka are home to many embassies and a large expat community.

Two major redevelopment projects have recently given Roppongi a new face: Roppongi Hills with its 238m tall Mori Tower and Tokyo Midtown with its 248m tall Midtown Tower. Each complex consists of elegant retail, leisure and residential space, offices, a luxury hotel and art museum.

Another recent addition to Roppongi is the National Art Center, Japan’s largest art museum. Together with the Mori Art Museum in Roppongi Hills and the Suntory Museum of Art in Tokyo Midtown, it forms the "Art Triangle Roppongi" and has put the district onto Tokyo’s cultural map.

There can be few beers that have given a name to a place. 

Named after Yebisu Beer, which made its debut in 1890 and to which both Ebisu Station and the surrounding neighborhood owe their names, it presents a high-tech explanation (in Japanese only) of an age-old process. I especially like the gallery of old beer advertisements, but it’s not always on display.

Now it`s a part of the Sapporo Beer company, the Beer Museum Yebisu is on the original site, part of one of Tokyo’s most distinctive landmarks, the Yebisu Garden Place.