Hollow Point

Everyone loves a nice izakaya or British-style pub, but some nights call for a little more action. On any given night at this Tokyo air-soft bar, you can play out your action movie fantasies for ¥100. Do this all while rocking out to the likes of Marilyn Manson or AC/DC as their live concert footage is projected onto the wall.

Photo by: Victoria Vlisides The bar has the shooting area in the back.

In the heart of Roppongi, one of the most popular areas for nightlife in Tokyo, is Hollow Point. Like other airsoft bars, what makes this basement bar different from your average place is that it comes with a one-person shooting range. Yes, you read that right. You won’t be firing real bullets (this is Japan, after all), but rather plastic BB’s from airsoft guns that are replicas of real-world firearms.  Airsoft (termed as “survival games“) is actually a subculture in Japan with growing popularity.

Heavy metal beer?

Photo by: Victoria Vlisides Have a drink!

The staff — mild-mannered and willing to try a little English — will offer you two menus. One for drinks and food and one for guns to shoot.

The drink menu is in both Japanese and English, which is great for tourists. They offer the standard draft beer, starting at ¥800, to cocktails and bourbon. If you’re feeling more adventurous, try one of their imported beers (AC/DC or Iron Maiden beer) or unusual items like a blended cocktail of wine and Coca-Cola.

Guns

Hollow Point’s shooting range is closed off by the glass at the back of the venue. After you get in the booth and have the proper eye protection, you can shoot to knock down a series of bottles or go for a paper target with the figure of a man. While you can shoot one at a time, there’s plenty of room to take turns to beat your friend’s high score. Once you finish, keep the paper target as a souvenir of just how well (or poorly) you did.

Photo by: Victoria Vlisides Hollow point shooting area.

You can choose from over 20 different guns such as the handguns used by the likes of action heroes John McClain and Robocop. If you want to take a step up, you can also wield sniper rifles complete with scopes, revolvers, assault rifles with red dot sights, a grenade launcher and large machine guns. You can even use a special gun from the Resident Evil/Biohazard video game series.

Hollow Point is not the kind of bar you’d expect to find in Japan, but that just makes it all the more fun.

Interested in this subculture? Check out other survival games venues.