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| Shibuya Takkyu Club: Shibuya | |||
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Ping-ponging at EST
Let's face it, if it's cool you want, you play your game, cue in hand, on a green-baize table. Ping-pong, on the other hand, is the province of the decidedly uncool. Anyone doubting this need only visit Shibuya's EST building. Housed on the 9th floor of this citadel of frivolous pastimes (bowling, pool, video games, karaoke - they're all here) is a 15-table ping-pong hall. In EST, you can instantly tell what floor you are on just by checking out the girls: video games - absent; bowling - short skirts; karaoke - short skirts, high heels; pool - tight jeans, high heels; ping-pong - apparently whatever happened to be lying on the bedroom floor that morning. The point of ping-pong is entirely fun. The 9th-floor staff probably receive few complaints that most of the bats seem to have only one rubber face. Many bats have deeply indented rubber edges, as if someone couldn't wait for the pizza to arrive. Around the hall, nets have wisely been erected: this is no place for precision volleys; those balls can and do fly everywhere. When not pursuing the business of ping-pong, customers have plenty to keep themselves happy, with food and drink machines, video games and a juke box. A wide range of refreshments can be ordered. The decoration on the walls is a lurid assemblage of bright flowers and loud geometric designs - perhaps to help those who play here till 5:30 a.m. to keep their eyes open. As elsewhere in the EST building, the clientele is mainly a young crowd. Collectively they look as if they have more idle time on their hands than Japan's banks have nonperforming loans on theirs. (OK, I'm lying: nobody anywhere could possibly look as if they have THAT much time.) by David Capel |
Shibuya Takkyu Club
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