Tokyo: What to See & Do: Nightlife: Abbey Road

Abbey Road

One of two clubs—the other is the Cavern—whose house bands do uncannily accurate reenactments of Beatles songs. In the dark of the club, the bewigged Japanese band members even manage to look like the Fab Four; they have mastered the Beatles style of dressing, playing and singing down to the minutest detail, from shaggy haircuts to exact microphone positioning and vocal phrasing. It is one of the many oddities of Tokyo that it has two thriving venues paying tribute to an English band that split up almost 40 years ago. Abbey Road is packed nightly with young Japanese, most of whom were not even born when the final Beatles album, Let It Be, was released.

Even more remarkable, in a country where little English is spoken, the twentysomethings know the words to all the songs. The first chords of All You Need Is Love or She Loves You elicit roars of approval and much table thumping from the squeezed-in supper-club audience. Even at the height of their fame, the Beatles could hardly have imagined that in the 21st century, they would be so big in Japan. A fun night out.