Tokyo

A safe den through and through. The type of place that when you're rolling down the street and freaks abound and trains are zipping this way and that and omawarisan on the corner is giving you the eye sideways, you just duck a right down the alley, pass through the door, head up the most narrow and ancient staircase you've ever seen (with "Riders on the Storm" oozing out to greet you or maybe some early Stones), and they'll greet you with a look and a nod and a draft set down in front of you, and everything brightens right up, despite the dim lighting or perhaps because of it.

It's a different world up there. A world devoid of fancy deli chainstores, stupid chick shoes, and Hello Kitty cellphone straps. A world where the walls are lined floor-to-ceiling with well played records and John Lennon smiles down from the nooks and crannies. A much much more reasonable world.