The wind felt like needles on the face. From street level, the two men quickly enter the building, stamping warmth into their feet as they pulled down the hoods of their jackets.
Walking through the long corridors, the doors open with a whoosh as the men felt life enter into their systems.
“You’ve been here before?” Kazu, the taller of the two asked; the other, Ren, nodded.
An elevator takes them up to the lobby on the 51st floor, before they take another elevator to the 52nd. High ceilings and dark wood greeted the men. At that height, the streets felt unreal, the people below reduced to a scatter of lights that flickered like fireflies in a jar.
They were the only patrons present and they were shown to their table with a panoramic view. It is around 6pm and the sky was a mix of purple and gold.
Dressed immaculately in a jacket and offered no hint of a crease, the wait staff proffered a menu to them. Kazu ordered a Kiyohime Amazake (Grey Goose La Poire, fermented rice, matcha and yuzu), while Ren got a Hot Japanese Coffee (butter-washed KI NO BI Kyoto Dry Gin, Don Julio Reposado,1883 roasted hazelnut syrup, coffee, homemade matcha cream, matcha powder and topped with an edible flower).
They have not met in a long time. They were college mates, thick as thieves, who promised to keep in contact after they graduated. But life got in the way—Kazu relocated to Hiroshima for work, while Ren remained in Tokyo, moving from one job to another.
Then, out of the blue, Ren received a text from Kazu, saying that he would be in Tokyo over the weekend and was asking if he was free for dinner. Now, nursing their drinks, the two men looked out at the city stretched in all directions. Tokyo Tower pulsed in a comforting glow. Soft jazz music piped from the speakers. There’s the whiff of cigar smoke.
Kazu drained his drink and issued a satisfying sigh. “Maybe it’s because I’ve been away but the city never fails to amaze me.”
Usually, Ren would dismissed that notion with a harumph but the mood calls for something less cynical.
There’s 15 minutes more before they set off for their dinner appointment nearby. Ren raised his glass, the foam in this coffee cocktail now a perceptible white line. Kazu lifts his in response; the ice in his glass clinks and watering what’s left of the vodka.
Kazu and Ren will never meet again. But, during the lonely nights, they would return to this moment, two long-lost friends at the top of the world.
Rooftop Bar is located at Toranomon Hills 52F, 1-23-4 Toranomon, Minato-ku Tokyo
