t is 2005. I had just caught the end of summer with a week to spare. Luckily my flight wasn’t delayed too long. As soon as I landed, I could already feel the change in climate. The humidity was definitely a relief for my allergies. Toyo & Yuri were already waiting for me just past customs. As usual, the line to customs was ridiculously long, but after finally making it through, I breathe a sigh of relief. I look around for my counterparts, but they’re nowhere to be found. “Shit!” I thought to myself, “maybe they didn’t catch that my flight was delayed after all.” I start to panic, and I head straight for a payphone. Suddenly, Toyo & Yuri pop out from behind an obstruction in the arrival terminal, smiling contently. Apparently they had been observing my reaction from afar. “Yeah yeah, you got me again”, I say, jokingly. They greet me warmly, and before I even have time to ask what the plans are for the evening, Toyo suddenly exclaims, “Hurry! We’ve got to catch the train. We have to get rid of your luggage.” “What’s the rush? Where are we going?” I ask. “You’ll see”, he says, with a conniving tone.

We spend the next hour and a half on a train, with the menial task of trudging across town with my luggage. We finally arrive at Toyo’s apartment in Toda-shi, Saitama. In a panic, Toyo helps me in with my luggage. I start to take my shoes off before entering inside. “Dont’ worry about it” he says, “We don’t have time for that.” I stop asking where we’re going, and just except the fact that this is Toyo’s way of surprising me.

Suddenly we’re off  to catch the next JR line back into Tokyo. “You still have your Suica?” Toyo asks. “I do”, I explain, “It’s still got ¥ 2,000 from when I was here last.” Toyo laughs hardily. Apparently he thinks that’s funny. Within seconds we’ve all cleared the departure gate. The JR promptly arrives shortly after, destined for who knows where? Toyo does, but he’s not talking.

I start to recognize certain landmarks, but not enough to know where we’re going. The sun is almost completely set, but there’s still a radiant glow off in the distance, reflecting off all the buildings we pass. I start to lose myself in the scenic ride on the JR. Múm is playing over my headphones. Before I know it, another 45 minutes have gone by already.

We finally depart the JR, only to find ourselves cutting through a sea of people, rushing to board another subway, bound for some mysterious destination. We pass a bakery on the way to the platform. The smell is overwhelmingly delicious. “Oh no, we’re going to miss it!” Toyo shouts. Our train has already arrived at the platform. We all rush to board. “Damn, we just made it”, I say, exhausted from running. By now I’ve completely lost my sense of direction. No music this time. Just a synthetic, monotone voice overhead, announcing every stop. Another 20 minutes go by.

“Yeah. We’re here.” Toyo says, calmly. We all jump off, and head straight for an escalator. I suddenly begin to recognize the station we’re in. “Dude?!”, I ask, “This is Roppongi Hills, isn’t it?” Toyo smirks. No response. We finally find our way to street level, and after several blocks of trudging on foot, I suddenly begin to have serious doubts of any real destination. I start thinking that this is all some messed up prank that Toyo thought to play on me. I even find myself somewhat irritated, but I keep up with the game no-less. By now it’s already dark outside, and I still don’t ask where we’re going.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, down the dark, side streets of the suburban neighborhoods of Roppongi, Tokyo, I see a brightly glowing halogen sign, with the words “Bul-Let’s” spelled out. “Aaaahhhh dude! Why didn’t you tell me we were going to Bullet’s?” I ask. “Oh, that’s not the surprise” Toyo says, halfheartedly. “The surprise is inside.” After we catch our breath, we all head in. It takes a while for my eyes to adjust to the low lighting after seeing that bright sign outside, but I can already tell the night is going to improve drastically.

We make our way to the front of the club. An animation is being projected against the main wall, between two large speakers, with the words “Organ-O-Rounge” swirling in and out of focus.

A DJ is off to the side, spinning some really amazing music, but I don’t have the courage to walk over and ask what it is that I’m hearing. We find a comfy spot to sit down. Toyo calmly leans over to me and proclaims, “Man, you’re going to love this.” 2 hours go by, with some of the most amazing music being spun by a DJ I don’t know. No pretension, no ego, and no one trying to impress anyone. The situation is so perfect, it could never be replicated again.

Suddenly the lights get dimmer, and the main show begins. A beautiful, eerie voice comes swirling over the speakers, accompanied by syncopated phonograph popping and orchestral ambient pads. By now I’m completely fixed on what’s happening, and for the next 5 hours I stay that way. Nothing could remove me from this experience I was having. The animation, the singing, the programmed beats & melodies. Everything was perfect. So much so that I had completely forgotten about our tiresome journey to this point.

Before I knew it, the show was already over, and to my surprise, it was early morning. No one had slept. Toyo leaned over to me once more and asked, “what did you think?” I told him, “I think I’ll remember this experience for the rest of my life.”

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