Home to both the super upscale Roppongi Hills, and Midtown Tokyo complexes, as well as shady night clubs. I've found Roppongi elicits strong reactions from many people, and that those opinions are highly correlated with the size of their bank accounts.
One particularly hung over Scottish guy who was crashing at a shared apartment I looked at referred to it as the "armpit of Tokyo." At the same time many of the best and most expensive restaurants are located here. Several Japanese movie stars call Roppongi Hills home. Major foreign investment banks also have their offices here.
I can personally verify that walking around at 5am after the clubs get out you will be accosted by many women offering "massages." In front of the Tokyo TGI Fridays no less.
I also live across the street from the Hugo Boss store. Seen here in the bottom right view from my window.
Roppongi's history as a hot local for foreigners dates back the period after world war two when many elements of the Allied occupation government set up shop here. Of course this also lead to many establishments being founded in the area to "service" the soldiers stationed here. The dichotomy between wealth and power, as well as the shady underground persists to today.
Although apparently Roppongi has been cleaned up substantially in recent years, with most of the Yakuza (Japanese organized crime) places supposedly having been shut down.
Either way it might be only in Japan that these two poles of society could coexist in such close proximity, due to the pretty much complete lack of violence around these parts.
Living here should be quite a trip, stay tuned.
Also a few more pictures from the top of my building, including the Midori tower of Roppongi Hills.
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