FLAMINGO BAR: Tokyo's Gaudy Artist Hangout

Founded by the enigmatic (and now late) Shinichi Watanabe, FLAMINGO BAR opened a stones throw north of Roppongi station back in 1985. It quickly found success and by the 1990s was a hot spot for artists and people in the media industry. Media and production companies tended to be clustered around the inner city and Flamingo became renowned as a spot to crawl to after work and take part in a debaucherous night of drinking into the early hours of the morning.

The bar attracted a host of weird and wonderful people thanks to its gaudy design and adult entertainment. With sleek curving bar-tops, vivid crimson lighting and twirling dancers on podiums, Japan’s bubble era saw it fill up each evening with a rowdy crowd looking to keep the party going all night. The bar was known for attracting celebrities and paparazzi would often buzz around the venue looking to catch a raunchy snap.

The bar became a cultural icon, with artists gathering to share their passions and develop their crafts, particularly when it came to the worlds of dance and burlesque.

The combination of the lighting, the atmospheric music played by DJs and the idiosyncratic clientele created a truly unique ambience. Passing beneath the neon sign reading FLAMINGO BAR and inside the gaudy two-tone padded front door, one could feel that they were leaving the streets of Roppongi and transporting to the ostentatious world of Lynch’s Blue Velvet or Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction.

While it may be a shadow of what it once was in the early 90’s, Flamingo remains open to this day and still puts on some wild parties. Like so many other nightlife venues, It faced enormous difficulties in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic. Thankfully, nostalgia patrons saved the bar by raising roughly $50,000 though a crowdfunding campaign.

For anyone in Tokyo, the bar is worth a visit to soak in the glow of a bygone era.