Flourishing Hub

As the Club’s Nihonbashi satellite facility celebrates its first birthday this month, it appears well placed to build on its stellar inaugural year.

By the turn of the 17th century in Japan, the new class of merchants, traders, bankers and businesspeople formed the basement of the country’s social hierarchy. What’s more, their feudal overlords made sure they never forgot their place.

“The offspring of a toad is a toad,” went a popular saying of the Edo period. “The offspring of a merchant is a merchant.”

“It is the duty and basic principle of government to see always to [samurai and peasants’] well-being,” wrote Ogyu Sorai, a preeminent scholar and social critic of the time. “Merchants, on the other hand, carry on an insignificant occupation….It should be of no concern of government if they ruin themselves.”

The businesspeople of Edo weren’t welcome in the samurai districts surrounding Edo Castle (present-day Imperial Palace). With access to these customers still an economic necessity, merchants set up shop in nearby choninchi commercial districts, the most famous of which came to be known by the bridge built in 1603: Nihonbashi.

From humble origins, Nihonbashi slowly but steadily became the financial center of a rapidly modernizing country. In more recent years, the area has undergone another facelift and now flourishes as a bustling, high-rise hub of upscale eateries, shopping and business. It’s here that Tokyo American Club Nihonbashi opened its doors on March 31 last year.

Given not only its prominent location but also its status as the first satellite facility in Tokyo American Club’s 94-year history, has the Nihonbashi Club lived up to the expectations of its Members—both long-standing and new—in its first 12 months?

“It’s a wonderful Club,” says Kaori Koide. “It’s changed my life completely.”

Image: Kaori Koide

“This is one of those things I don’t really want to talk about because it’s such a special gem,” says John Flanagan. “It’s almost like Fight Club in that the first rule of the Nihonbashi Club is you don’t talk about the Nihonbashi Club.”

In some respects, Koide and Flanagan represent opposite ends of the spectrum of Tokyo American Club membership. Originally from Denver, Colorado, Flanagan, 56, first joined in 1995 when there was a sole Azabudai clubhouse (since replaced by the current facility). On the other hand, Koide, 38, opted to join the Club community last July as a Nihonbashi-only Member.

Despite their contrasting backgrounds, neither holds back when it comes to extolling the benefits of the Nihonbashi Club.

Image: Rike Wootten

“I’m a busy mom of two boys,” says Koide, who lives in the neighborhood and juggles a full-time business management consulting career alongside a seat on the Nihonbashi Committee. “I get up a little after 5 o’clock and hit the gym at 6am when [the Club] opens. Then I’m back home by 7:30am to get the kids off to school and everything.”

If her hectic schedule makes morning workouts impractical, it’s no struggle for Koide to shift her Fitness Center sessions to the afternoon. Afterwards, she might drop by the Muromachi Bar & Lounge to answer e-mails and finish up reports.

Even if it’s just a change of scenery, Koide is thrilled with her new retreat after working out of her home office for much of 2020.

“I went from being stuck inside my house 24 hours a day to being much more active and a part of a great community,” says Koide, who has also taken up weightlifting with the help of Fitness Center manager Satoshi Nagae. “It’s really been wonderful.”

Whereas the Nihonbashi Club opened the door to Tokyo American Club life for newcomers like Koide, it expanded access in unexpected ways for veteran Members like Flanagan.

“When I go to the office, I go to Azabudai,” explains Flanagan. “But I live in the Hanzomon area, so it’s much more convenient for me to get to [the Nihonbashi Club] if I’m working from home. I never really contemplated the Club expanding to other locations, but it’s amazing to have a whole new home to go to.”

Image: John Flanagan (right)

While the Nihonbashi clubhouse may not be as large as its Azabudai counterpart, Flanagan says the facility’s appeal lies in other areas.

“The Fitness Center is almost as big [as Azabudai’s], but the machines are all brand-new,” he says. “The ceilings are also lower, which gives it a very cozy feel with some great, Japanese-inspired design choices.”

Flanagan isn’t alone in that opinion. In October, a panel of expert judges recognized the work of chief architect and current Nihonbashi Member Daishi Yoshimoto with a prestigious Good Design Award.

Officially, the Nihonbashi Club welcomed its first Members last spring, but Flanagan recalls conversations about the project several years prior during his time on the Board of Governors. In actuality, the origins of the Nihonbashi Club date back even further.

“It was back in 2015 or 2016 when I was chatting with some friends who worked at Mitsui Fudosan,” says Member Rike Wootten, who facilitated initial discussions between the commercial developer and the Club. “They said, ‘You know, we’re putting together a big project in Nihonbashi, and we’d like to find a way to attract some more foreign [tenants and customers] to that site.’”

That project would become Nihonbashi Muromachi Mitsui Tower, a 29-story, multiuse development combining office space, restaurants, shops and, of course, Tokyo American Club Nihonbashi, with its sixth-floor location and downtown views.

The partnership, explains Wootten, 61, has worked out for all involved. In exchange for leveraging the Club’s brand to entice internationally minded tenants, Mitsui financed the clubhouse’s entire construction and design, from the American walnut pitched ceiling throughout the space to the imported, top-of-the-line kitchen.

“From the conversations I’ve had with people from Mitsui, I gather they quite like [the Club],” says Wootten, who frequents the Nihonbashi facility from time to time. “It’s very much an adult-oriented, formal place. I think it’s great.”

With more than 120 Members (adult Azabudai Members also enjoy access), the Nihonbashi Club still has plenty of room to grow into its second year and beyond. Unsurprisingly, that’s exactly what’s already happening.

Image: Tohei Umeda and Fitness Center manager Satoshi Nagae

“Before Covid-19, I would spend three months out of every year at my house in California,” says Tohei Umeda, 56, who compares the Club dining experience to the Morton’s Steakhouse he used to frequent on the West Coast. “I wanted to improve my quality of life while I’m here in Tokyo, so I joined Tokyo American Club Nihonbashi in February before it even opened.”

“I visit the Club three times a week mostly for the Fitness Center,” adds Megumi Fujii, a Member since May who previously sweated her way through workouts in a windowless basement gym. “The entrance and membership fees weren’t very expensive for a club of this quality, either.”

Image: Megumi Fujii

The first rule of the Nihonbashi Club might very well be that you don’t talk about the Nihonbashi Club, but one year in, it’s nearly impossible to keep something this good under wraps. Which has its clear advantages.
“We’re always looking to welcome more diverse Members to the Nihonbashi Club while maintaining our international flair,” says Koide. “I’m really looking forward to that.”

For more information on the Nihonbashi Club, including membership details, visit the Club website.

Words: Owen Ziegler
Images: Kayo Yamawaki