Tokyo - One Insane Night at Club Atom
Imagine a riled up crowd. Full of drink. Full of life. Full of energy. And God knows what else.
Imagine them jumping up and down, busting skilled moves on the dance floor. Bopping to beats like "Tonight's Gonna Be A Good Night" by Black Eyed Peas and "Memories" by David Guetta. You forget where you are. You forget who you're with. You unify with the throngs of people as one and achieve a transcendental state bopping to the non stop music, not wanting the night to end.
This was the experience of your reporter last July when he and his friends from all over Asia went clubbing for the ultimate: an insane night clubbing in Japan!
The day began fairly normal. Your reporter had a home stay with a Japanese family in the Chiba Prefecture in Japan, a quaint little Japanese town named the night before on his study program.
We were staying at the luxurious JAL City Tamachi Hotel in Tokyo. Your reporter was truly in the lap of luxury watching Gossip Girl from a flat screen LCD television covering an entire wall from his own private spa - but that is another story for another day.
The band of international amigos your reporter was hanging out with - representatives from Korea, Phillipines, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, New Zealand and two local Japanese friends - planned a night out. When asked which club to hit for our first night in Tokyo both locals quipped "Club Atom!".
Atom is a Shibuya nightclub deep in the heart of Tokyo that plays trance, rave, psytrance, house and hip-hop music. There are three different floors; two that work as a nightclub and a third that works as a lounge in which to relax and have a drink. On Saturdays the hip-hop floor can become quite crowded, as your reporter found out.
The following are the stats your reporter gathered about Club Atom:
Nearest Train Station: Shibuya Station
Club Type: Dance, Entertainment, Night Fun
Address: 5F 6F Dr.jeekan's Bldg, 2-4 Maruyama-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Home Page: http://www.clubatom.com
Business Hours: 10:00pm-6:00am
Admission Price: Around 3000 yen, depending on the event.
Credit Cards: Yes.
Known as the club space for international partiers, Club Atom is a great place to go for those who don't know the city but want to go somewhere fun. There are three floors all playing different music, the third floor was playing R&B and hip hop, the second floor was the largest and had a famous Japanese DJ playing and the first was playing trance music.
The cover charge was 3,000 because we came just after midnight, but before midnight it's 1,000. With the cover charge you get a free drink. Your reporter recommends going to a bar beforehand. The club was PACKED, there was barely any room to dance but the club had a great atmosphere and it was fun seeing all the 20 something scene and the like.
Three wonderful floors of entertainment. From hip-hop on top to psytrance down below and nothing but house music all night long on the ground floor, this place is amazing. It is a club that caters to booty-shaking in all its glorious forms. And with enough room to dance, bounce, grind, and drink all night long, it absolutely has one-up on other clubs in Shibuya.
Bartenders speak English, and you get one free drink at the door. For those who feel amorous after a long night of clubbing, it is located in the centre of the love hotel district and is right next to a convenience store. Absolutely foreigner-friendly, as long as you don't act like a bunch of jerks.
People began taking turns dancing in the middle of the large circle we created. Suddenly, your reporter was hit with inspiration. Taking the Justin Timberlake-style hat off his head he made up a rule on the spot. Anyone the hat is given to will put it on and dance.
And boy did the crowd get into it, Japanese and non-Japanese. Your reporters amigos, especially the Singaporean and Thai friends were serious contenders for the title of best dancer of the night.
The best part of that amazing night was the friendships that were formed. Now while it is not unheard of to make random friends on a night out, your reporter was very surprised to get on with a group of local Japanese people, aged between 20-26, who mostly did not know each other, but were united by us foreigners coming in and showing off our moves - they joined in also!
Club Atom is a great club and a pretty fun place for first-time-to-Tokyo foreigners to go to see the Japanese 20-somethings' club scene. There are multiple floors and usually one is pumping trance beats and another is doing something more like hip-hop or R&B.
If you're interested in seeing people do ParaPara dancing or seeing real life Gyaru and Gyaruo then this is a good place to be on a Saturday night. The drinks are between 500 and 1000 a pop, so prepare to spend money if you want to get your drink on. I think it's worth checking out at least once while you're in Tokyo!
This club will appeal to the 20-25 year old scene. Try and get there before midnight, after midnight it gets really packed. If your in shibuya, definately worth going on Friday or Saturday night! A bit hard to find though, try and look for promoter girls at the shibuya crossing.
If you want to have the most transcendental clubbing experience ever and you happen to be in Tokyo, Japan, you must go to Club Atom - you will come out a changed person.