In general, pre-bubble nightlife in Tokyo was rather dull. In the early 1980s, a Saturday night out in Shinjuku or Roppongi meant jockeying for space in a crowded disco with packs of Japanese intent on line dancing in front of mirrors. There were a few alternative bars scattered in and around Aoyama, but even the cool people you met were just that -- cool, or that is, mostly afraid of being seen as uncool. Either way, it came down to image.

And it still does, according to Akira Takeda, the owner of Hachi, a small four-story club complex in Aoyama. "I wish Japanese clubbers would be more spontaneous -- more inspired and more inspiring," he laments. "They don't understand that it's up to them to create the excitement."

Perhaps, though, fortysomething Takeda is too close to his subject. Hachi boasts a higher concentration of party animals than most Tokyo clubs. One thing is certain -- it's a lot more fun to go clubbing in Tokyo than it used to be.