Places to Salsa in Tokyo

Dear Fellow Salseros,

From October 10th to 17th 2005, my partner and I shall be in Tokyo and we hope to be able to dance salsa there.

A close friend of mine asked me to go to Roppongi to find Salsa clubs.

What is your recommendation?

We would like to experience the Salsa atmosphere in Tokyo.

On the other hand, if anyone plan to visit Singapore, please do not hesitate to contact me and I shall show you around the Salsa crowd here.

Our salsa style is Cuban but can also do LA/NY or Rueda.

Thanks a lot!

Ignatius

Thought I can help, even though I'm still new to the scene myself.

Yes, Roppongi is the place you should go.
My favourite is Salsa Caribe and El Cafe Latino.
I did quick search, and found a map in English, which doesn't cover many places though.
I'll post if I find a better map later...

People here dance in various styles.
I dance ET2, but majority is LA. Cuban is pretty popular, too.

Is it OK to post a link to another forum?
(I just want to avoid redundancy...)
http://www.borntosalsa.com/name-MDForum-viewtopic-t-220-postdays-0-postorder-asc-start-0.html

They are discussing salsa scene in Tokyo.
Those infos are quite true IMO.

I just moved to Tokyo (suburb of Tokyo actually), so there are still a lot of places I've never been/want to visit someday.

Hope you'll enjoy your stay in Tokyo, Ignatius!

Oh, btw, hello everyone.
I'm new to this forum!

Hi Ignatius,

I went to Tokyo earlier this year and went to some of the salsa clubs there. There are many small salsa clubs in Tokyo, most in the Roppongi area, that play salsa every night. I went to the two Tamaki mentioned -- Salsa Caribe and El Cafe Latino. Caribe is considered THE place for advanced dancers to be, and the level is certainly high. I wasn't impressed with the music there (a bit on the cheesy side), but if you want weekday action, it's probably the best bet. I went to El Cafe Latino twice, a Thursday and Sunday I think. Thursday night was brilliant, busy, with good level of dancing and excellent music -- but Sunday night was very quiet and the music was disappointing too :?. Another club I went to was not in Roppongi but near Nippori station, called Club Salud. Friendly, open atmosphere (which I liked), with mainly beginner-to-intermediate dancers. I think there were some Cuban style dancers there (most Tokyo dancers do LA style).

There are many other clubs you can try -- see: http://www.salsa.co.jp/guide/club_E.html

Hope you'll have a great time there.

Dear Tamaki and MacMoto,

Thank you so much for all the information you gave me. I'll definitely give them a try while there.

It's going to be exciting to experience other atmosphere at another place.

Well, if you ever visit Singapore, do let me know and I shall take you around.

It's a small salsa community here but it still exist.

Thanks.

Ignatius

Speaking of the day of the week, I think Tue.-Thu, will be the best at those clubs in Roppongi.
Sometimes I go there early (like 7,or 8 pm), take a lesson (most clubs here offer group lessons early in the evening), and stay an hour or two later.
In weekends they get jam-packed, almost as bad as crowded commuter trains, so I tend to avoid them.

There's another place I go ocasionally. It's called Babiron/Caribbean Cafe in Ikebukuro. (They are bar/club in the same building.)
I like its homey atmosphere. Most people there dance Cuban.
Downside is that there is no other salsa place in that area.

Dear Tamaki,

Thanks so much for sharing your precious information.

Roppongi is now at the top of our must-visit list.

We don't mind going to the Ikebukuro place as well. Our problem is the transportation as we understand that the public transportation stops at midnight and the place where we stay is quite far away from the city of Tokyo.

I'll have to discuss it with my friend there.

In any case, thanks a lot and take care!

Sun