It’s been an odd time for Tokyo’s nightlife scene. While the city boasts some of the best bars and nightclubs in the world, recurring spikes in Covid-19 cases have forced many of these businesses to shut for weeks and even months at a time. With a fresh set of quasi-emergency restrictions calling for eating and drinking establishments to close earlier than usual, many of the city’s revellers have been longing for the return of Tokyo’s legendary parties and late nights.
That’s one of the many reasons we’ve been loving Netflix’s new docuseries ‘Midnight Asia: Eat Dance Dream’. At a time when travelling for leisure is still extremely difficult for most and social distancing is still required, the series brings Asia’s most vibrant after-dark hubs to you wherever you are.
Kicking off the series is an episode entirely dedicated to Tokyo. And while it’s impossible to condense everything our capital has to offer in the after hours into a single 37-minute segment, the producers have done a stellar job of highlighting some of the emblematic aspects of the scene.
First, there’s an appearance from the world’s oldest living DJ – Sumiko Iwamuro (aka DJ Sumirock) is 85 years old, loves spinning techno and EDM and, by the looks of it, has no intentions of slowing down any time soon. We’re then seated at Ebisu’s Bar Trench, which has been featured on the Asia’s 50 Best Bars list on multiple occasions, where head bartender Rogerio Igarashi Vaz shows us what it’s like to run one of the city’s favourite bars. Ending with a bang, the show takes us to Department H – Tokyo’s longest running fetish club. We won’t give too much away, but there’s a heck of a lot of latex involved.
We can’t wait until we’re next able to go carousing around town long after the trains have stopped running, or dance in a club with a sound system that could shake a whole building, but if you need a show to vicariously live through while stuck at home, it’s this one.
'Midnight Asia' is streaming now on Netflix worldwide (regional restrictions may apply).
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