Apr.
2002, Xene #27
A Beautiful Excuse - A Cup of Nightlife
by Carey Paterson
Some winters it snows five meters. Other winters it
snows fifteen feet. Either way, that's a lot of snow.
When summer comes to Sapporo, we need very little
excuse to enjoy it, and the World Cup is giving us
more excuse than ever. This section is dedicated to
summer in Hokkaido, and to the travelers and residents
who are lucky to be here for it. In the beautiful
game, only four words are more blessed than "carded
for diving." They are "The FIFA World Cup."
Sapporo is fortunate to host football's premier event,
but it is also anxious about fanatical fans whose
behavior has become an obsession of the Japanese media.
Will our cup runneth over, we wonder, or will The
Cup run us over?
In the spirit of fair play, visitors might ask the
same question in reverse: Will bars and restaurants
behave, or will they fleece out-of-towners and cold-shoulder
international guests?
Visitors will be reassured to hear that Sapporo is
Japan's most welcoming city, even though Japan can
be a pretty xenophobic place. Nightlife establishments
are permitted great leeway in whom to admit, and they
have legitimate concerns about hassles. But if you've
packed some patience with your sense of adventure,
you'll find the nightlife as excellent as the football.
Most of Sapporo's nightlife centers on Susukino, a
wonderfully walkable entertainment district that throbs
with neon. It spans the blocks from South 4 to South
7 and from West 1 to West 6 (map: p.10), with Eki-mae
Dori running north-south down the center.
Your guidebook tells you to venture out with someone
who speaks the language, but if you could do that
you wouldn't need the guidebook, would you? For dining,
give your hotel a price range and cuisine, and have
them make your reservations. Visitors with more cultural
daring can head to Susukino and ask a local for a
recommendation; you might just get an impromptu guide.
People here are friendly, and even locals without
a second language are likely to try and muddle through
with you. Susukino is a strange Bermuda Triangle of
casualness.
If a shop gives you a lukewarm welcome, try somewhere
else. Be aware that some bars and restaurants plan
to close on the days of more volatile matches.
The rule of thumb is that privacy costs. A ground-floor
bar with a view of the street will be cheaper and
more welcoming than a windowless watering hole tucked
into the upper floors.
Some bars and restaurants offer all-you-can-eat and
-drink deals (tabehodai and nomihodai, respectively).
The most notable is the beer hall at North 7 East
9, northeast of Susukino.
Japanese restaurants are generally called izakaya
or washoku-ya, unless they specialize in a certain
dish like fugu or noodles. Places serving other cuisines
are called resutoran or cafe. If you have trouble
reading the menu, ask the waiter for advice, or a
fellow diner may help you out.
Don't worry too much about the not-so-beautiful game
of overcharging. I've been the subject of only three
attempted rip-offs and the same number of honest mistakes
in almost a decade, so the odds are with you. It must
be said that these odds may shorten during the World
Cup. If you're really nervous, pick up a six at the
convenience store and head for Odori Park. If there
are open-bottle laws in Japan, you wouldn't know it.
If
you do have a problem with a bill, ask for an explanation.
An English-speaking patron may come to your rescue,
or in the worst case you may have to call the police
for mediation. Don't lose your temper. One threatening
gesture and a brush against someone's shirt, and before
you know it you're up for assault. That's how little
tolerance there is for that sort of thing, and it's
one reason Susukino is safe (the second reason being
the vice grip of the Japanese underworld).
The "chaamu" surcharge does not qualify
as a problem, but it is a nuisance. Think of it as
what you will: a 400-yen seating charge, a fine on
barhopping. If you believe, as some do, that it is
morally wrong for a restaurant to charge you for your
dinner and a place to eat it, then ask beforehand
whether there is a chaamu. In Japanese, "no charge"
means no chaamu charge, and you'll see this in English
on signs and menus.
Although many bars in Susukino don't get humming until
after midnight, restaurants are a different story.
Few places take orders after 11 p.m.; from then on,
it's strictly street food or fast food.
Street food means manju (Chinese-style steamed buns,
250 yen each*), takoyaki (cooked dough filled with
octopus, 500 yen for a half-dozen), and corn on the
cob (not recommended).
Fast food ranges from hamburgers to curry-and-potstickers,
to gyu-don (beef over rice). These places are hardly
fine dining a la Japonaise, but you can fill up for
less than 1,000 yen and they do offer a cultural experience
of sorts.
A
more traditional fast-food experience is kaiten-zushi,
or "conveyor-belt sushi."
Japanese don't consider it proper sushi, but it is
inexpensive, tasty, and free of menu hassles: What
you see is what you get, and what you get is what
you snatch from the conveyor with your own two hands.
You pay by color-coded plate (100 to 300 yen). If
the dishes are colorful, the patrons are even more
so: bar hostesses, students, officeworkers, tourists.
Noodle shops (ramen, soba, udon) also offer affordable
late-night Japanese food (600 to 1,100 yen; 100 yen
extra for a large (o-mori) serving).
Also cheap and hassle-free are restaurants with plastic
models, usuallyof Chinese or vaguely Western dishes.
If you haven't the chutzpah to drag the waiter outside
and point, then carry a pad and jot down an approximation
of the Japanese and the price.
Although sunakku and hosutessu baa have bar-like counters
and serve drinks, to the Japanese way of thinking
they are not bars. They are wombs of conviviality
geared to a regular clientele and often featuring
fawning women. Many of these places will let you in
without a Japanese companion, particularly if you
look respectable and your Japanese is up to the challenge.
In any case, the charges can be mysterious even for
regulars. Your enjoyment at these places really depends
on the company you bring, in which case, why not go
to a regular bar instead? Sunakku are located in the
drinking equivalent of a multiplex cinema: several
dozen tiny bars shoehorned into a ten-story building.
With a toilet on every floor, they are reliable places
to answer the call of nature.
Racier places, sohpurando massage parlors and their
ilk, are in a class by themselves. Non-Asians might
get in if business is slow: It won't be during the
Cup. The prices listed outside generally do not include
"extra" services. If it's just a bath you're
looking for, try one of the several urban hot springs
and saunas downtown. Your hotel will steer you to
one.
Other nightlife spots include game centers and what
are called karaoke bokkusu (boxes) to distinguish
them from karaoke bars. These provide private karaoke
rooms for groups and are often found in game centers.
You pay for the room by the hour (3,000 for a room
that seats 5) and extra for any drinks or food. Discos
are also known as kurabbu. To find one, ask a local.
These places charge 2,000 or 3,000 yen admission,
which earns you one free drink.
The
culturally curious might want to visit a supermarket
(usually open until 10 p.m.), a convenience store
or a pachinko parlor. The last of these does not welcome
non-players, but you'll be able to poke your head
in. Odori Park, Susukino and Tanuki Koji all are known
for their buskers. There will also be large-screen
TVs set up in Spica (North 1 West 8) to broadcast
FIFA matches.
Ah, Sapporo on a midsummer's eve! What, morning already?
Forget your hangover: You've got some football to
watch.
