STORY:
Lavish Millennium Parties In Tokyo

The Japanese showing imagination and creativity with their New Year's Eve parties

If you're spending New Year's Eve in the Big Mikan you should already have your countdown spot marked or you may find yourself out in Tokyo's cold midnight air. Some of Tokyo's best restaurants and social spots are planning lavish New Year's Eve parties says The Japan Times.

Tableaux One of Tokyo's premier gourmet establishments is welcoming in 2000 by turning the restaurant into a casino (albeit with play money only). They will have two Blackjack booths, one baccarat, two big roulette wheels and tarot card reading. The owners have reportedly bought out an entire cellar of '75-'78 Bordeaux from a Beverly Hills restaurant and will share it with their guests.

After a dinner which will include delicacies ranging from Sanriku oysters and beluga caviar to shark fin soup, lobster and Maezawa beef, guests will be invited to mingle with Lady Luck, or dance the night away to the sounds of swing/pop and jazz bands. Tickets are Yen 45,000 ($423 US).

The Tokyo American Club TAC is inviting its members to "fly" to New York for the millennium celebration - at least, it's the closest thing to New York in Tokyo. The party tickets are designed as personalized first-class airline tickets and include the "travel" itinerary and plans for the entire evening.

Guests are asked to bring their passports to the club, where they will "board" a one-fifth scale copy of a United Airlines Boeing 747 bound for JFK International Airport to mark the beginning of the evening's journey. After clearing customs and deplaning, guests opting for the Yen 25,000 ($235 US), slightly less-formal part of the party, will find themselves strolling in the middle of "Central Park," created by Goto Florists. Those purchasing the Yen 30,000 ($282 US) tickets will move on to the black-tie 42nd Street venue.

Some of Manhattan's finest restaurants are lending their culinary masterpieces to the TAC's millennium menu: Tavern on the Green's Alsacienne onion tart, the Rainbow Room's asparagus vichyssoise with caviar and Gotham Bar and Grill's smoked provimi veal on spinach are just a few of the dishes on offer.

Rooms are being designed by professional stage designers with locations such as "Time Square" graced by the Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler, Diana Ross and Liza Minnelli impersonators imported especially for the event from the real Big Apple.

The Park Hyatt, arguably the best hotel in all of Tokyo, will close to only the 850 guests who have bought the Yen 65,000 ($611 US) millennium party ticket. Each of the six dining locations will be transformed into different cities around the world.

One room will be the Copacabana seashore resort, famous in the 1940's as playground for the rich. Mardi Gras-clad men and women will mingle with guests as they dance to the sounds of live Brazilian music.

The guests will feast on a menu that includes a trilogy of caviar, lobster and pheasant, contortionist and acrobats in Alegrian-inspired costumes will swing high overhead like exotic birds in golden rings.

Another room will be Paris in the 1920s. Signature dishes of the top chefs of France will be paired with vintage wines and champagnes, representing each decade of the last century. Set in the cafe tradition that is synonymous with the spirit of that great city, this party will be staffed by people in 1920s period costumes, while entertainment will be provided by violinists, accordionists, pantomimes and artists, at tableside.

The Ballroom will be become an elegant ball in 1930s Shanghai, the party will include professional ballroom dancers and a nine-piece band as well as the drama of a traditional Chinese lion dance, later in the evening. There will be rooms depicting the renaissance era of Florence Italy, a Japanese Edo-Period street, and a New York Grill.

Source: The Japan Times

DATE: 9/30/99

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