Friday, October 05, 2007

New Beginnings

Bar Arco of Sakae, Nagoya will be closing at the end of this month. The closure had been predicted for early next year but the Nomura San the bar owner has decided not to wait.

When I first moved to Nagoya I asked a new friend if he knew of any good bars in the city. He took me to Arco. Arco has, for me, over the last 6 years been a place to relax, meet interesting people, dance, drink eastern european liquors, ponder life, rant and rave, learn new vocabulary, pick up useful photography tips.... the list goes on. Simply speaking it was everything a good bar should be. My father even held his 60th birthday there!

Nomura san has found a new space for a new kind of bar not far from Nagoya station near Nagoya's oldest covered shopping street (one of the only areas that survived the bombing during the war). He is planning many exciting things for this new space, and non of them to do with machines that go beep. The second floor is to be converted to provide cheap rental office space for freelancers of all sorts, and may even provide me with an inexpensive studio work space.

I shall be sad to see the end of Arco, but an ending is a time for new beginnings.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

well, it has been a long time coming i guess..the end of an era for all involved but as you say, the new beginning sounds pretty fanatstic! arco will be sorely missed (it has been already for 2 years..)

odj

Nick Benwell said...

never the same without you!

Anonymous said...

Thoughts of Arco and my time in Japan always trace back to you, Odj, Tommy and Yoshi. It was the people that made that place so special for me.

Nick, I've been reading your blog for months now. Got word from Eisuke that Arco was closing/moving and did a Google search. Found your wonderful site and have shared the link with others I know who enjoy great photos and words.

How the heck have you been? Can't believe it's been forever and a day since I left Nagoya. A lot has changed, but damed if I don't still enjoy me a good Guinness!

Hope you and Mitz and the rest of the gang are doing well. Miss you all tons. Would love to stay in touch. Julie in Texas - julieinjapan@mac.com