Kiki's Pub is a tiny blues bar tucked in behind Exit 1 of Toranomon Station. For 16 years, it has hugged the edge of a small cluster of nomiya (drinking spots) stranded between big streets and surrounded by homogenous rows of office blocks. When I called for directions, I was told to find the #10 Mori Building, but in this kind of identi-kit neighborhood, it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

You talkin' tto me? -- Ed Stauffer

When I called the second time, the owner, Ed Stauffer, answered the phone. He didn't have to tell me he was from the Bronx, but I did have to tell myself it was NOT Robert De Niro on the other end of the line. Ed even looks a little like the actor, as he likes to point out. Dressed in blue jeans and a black Hobgoblen T-shirt exposing the odd tattoo on his forearm, he could have walked off the set of "Cape Fear."