What do you get when you mix a thousand bars with several hundred strip clubs and lap-dancing joints, add a smattering of shady drug dealers and then throw in thousands of exuberant football fans?
It's anyone's guess.
But it's a question that the denizens of Tokyo's wildest nightlife area are having to ask as they prepare for the arrival of the World Cup and its attendant hoardes.
The Roppongi area's neon-bathed jungle of hostess clubs, brothels, sports bars and other watering holes is expected to act as a magnet for the hundreds of thousands of fans heading for Japan for the May 31 to June 30 tournament.
Bar managers are frantically making more space in their often pokey premises and installing the latest plasma TV screens for what should be a huge boost for business.
Renting some muscle
Other last-minute preparations reflect their worries about what could go wrong -- anything glass being swapped for plastic and a hiring spree on muscle-bound security men.
"It's going to be crazy," said Rob O'Rourke, sipping a pint of lager and drawing on a cigarette outside Paddy Foley's, the Irish bar he manages.
Right next to Paddy Foley's stands an English bar, part of the United Nations of drinking establishments in Roppongi. On match days, both pubs will be brimming over with fans, many the worse for wear from alcohol.
"It could just start off with some friendly slagging, but then someone throws a glass and all hell breaks loose," said O'Rourke, explaining why he will be hiring bouncers at his bar for the first time.
Sin city
Paddy Foley's is just one of some 1,150 establishments within a 365m radius that caters to every nocturnal desire from rub downs by Korean "masseurs" to high-class striptease acts and after-hours clubbing.
On weekend nights, Roppongi crossing is a teeming mass of pleasure seekers and providers.
Drunken salarimen heading for hostess bars and karaoke joints rub shoulders with the beautiful Western and Japanese women who staff them, while drugs are never further away than a knowing look and a hurried exchange down a side street.
It is a volatile mix that regularly spills over into violence and crime, a rarity in relatively law-abiding Japan.
Shady past
Roppongi made headlines when young British hostess Lucie Blackman disappeared two years ago and was later found dead, allegedly murdered by a wealthy Japanese businessman.
"It's the only part of Japan where you have to watch your back and be careful what you say," said O'Rourke.
Over the years Roppongi has nearly seen it all, but next month's invasion of soccer fans will be a new experience.
"We'll be taking special measures, but of course we don't know quite what because we've never had anything like this before," explained an officer staffing the Roppongi crossing police box last Friday night.
Bar owners in the area say police, clearly worried, have visited them to ask about their precautions, but have offered little advice of their own.
`Getting handbags at ten paces'
Just next door to Paddy Foley's, bar manager Carl James from London's East End is expecting a 50 percent profit boost from the World Cup, but fully expects that things will "go off" at some point.
"It's a pretty volatile place anyway," he said.
"I think it will be okay if the fans are handled properly on the streets and if the Japanese can get their heads around the idea that the World Cup is just a big party."
James is taking on three or four extra security men and introducing a membership system, and says the bar will emphasize the international flavor of the event rather than attracting just England fans, who have earned a reputation for violence.
Although Tokyo is not hosting any games, accommodation shortages and the lack of a decent nightlife at venues means fans are likely to flood back into the capital, and Roppongi, after matches like England-Sweden on June 2 in nearby Saitama.
Illuminated by the glow of his five newly installed plasma screens, Paul Wagstaff of the cavernous Tokyo Sports Bar said he expected little if any trouble.
"There'll be nobody to fight," he said. "Usually at World Cups you get fighting against the locals, but the Japanese don't want to fight."
"You might get handbags at ten paces but that's about it," he added, using the British slang for a half-hearted punch-up.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source