I started hanging out in Roppongi around the time I moved to Tokyo to go to university, about 36, 37 years ago. After that, in the 1970's, I started working in a building next to the famous Meiji-ya shop, and I have been living in this neighborhood since, as if I was invited to live here. I moved to Ark Hills for a while during the bubble economy but now I am back in Roppongi again. The reason why I like this town so much is because even though much has changed, I can still feel the ambience from when I first started hanging out here. That's why it's like I'm back in my twenties, coexisting with myself from that time.
Then there is this mysterious, somewhat unique mood in Roppongi. For example, I first met "Monsieur" (Mr. Hiroshi Kamayatsu) in 1980, in a washroom of a restaurant, the day after John Lennon had died. We knew each other but had never really talked but on that day, I suddenly said to him "It's a very dark world, isn't it" and he replied, "very dark". We introduced ourselves as we stood side by side in the washroom. This was the beginning of our friendship.
Another story I remember was at the tempura shop "Uoshin" where I saw this really famous Enka singer, and being drunk, I had the courage to ask her to go singing with me. I was very impressed when she sang, but when it was my turn, she sang the chorus with me. Amazing, right? Just having Roppongi as the common denominator allowed people to open up to each other. There was this special mood that let people get to know each other. By going to the same restaurant several times, you would start greeting each other, and before you knew it, you were having a drink together. What was good about it was that you didn't have to worry about each other's social status. It was like searching each other's souls, kind of like the ambience of "jazz music". It's too bad that this doesn't happen too often these days.
