Walking into Motown after a three week absence, the bar staff pouring my drink without my asking, expat regulars welcoming me with open arms and familiar little huddles of flirty Nipponese smiling. There would always be newcomers too, some were occasional drinkers resident in Tokyo but many were visiting businessmen. Dozens of nationalities and occupations mingled and pulled, or pushed through the long narrow bar to the latest beats of global rock, pop and rap. I loved the place and moved freely through it. The greater Tokyo metropolis of the Kwanto had over thirty million inhabitants cramped into miniscule apartments and hotel rooms. We expats and expat attracted Japanese may have lived ten miles and ten million people apart but Motown was our watering hole.
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