New York has bars that open at 8 a.m. They serve the night-shift crowd, nurses coming off a double, and one guy at the end who is having a very specific week. Ikebukuro has those too. It also has this.
I wasn't hungover and I wasn't coming off a shift. I had a free morning, an umbrella that had given up before I left the station, and a rule I've learned the hard way in Tokyo: the cheapest hour of any nightlife business is the one when nobody else wants to be there. In a sekukyaba, that hour is 9 a.m.
The pitch, straight from the shop
I'll give X-PARTY this: the copy is not shy. The shop description on its CityHeaven page runs like a man who had three coffees and a thesis. It quotes the proverb dai wa shō wo kaneru ("the big can do the job of the small"), praises "that overwhelming presence" and the curve down to the waist, and concludes that "no matter what anyone says," the answer is big breasts. Then it lands the punchline: "Wait, there's a heaven in Ikebukuro too?"
Subtle it isn't. But it's honest, and it tells you exactly who the shop is for. The public roster backs it up. The listed cup sizes start at E and climb well past J, and the "manager's picks" include a cast member billed as a J-cup cosplayer. If that isn't your thing, this is the wrong elevator.
Getting there
The address is Nishi-Ikebukuro 1-41-5, TOP Ikebukuro Building, 6th floor. The shop says it's 3 minutes on foot from the west and north exits of Ikebukuro Station. Its own copy puts it as "close enough that you'd arrive if you skipped there." I didn't skip, and I took closer to five minutes because I stopped twice to shake out the umbrella. Look for the building name, not a neon sign. The street level doesn't advertise much, which is typical for this part of Ikebukuro.
Hours are 9:00 to 25:00, which is Japanese for 1 a.m. CityHeaven lists it as open every day. A news post on the shop page says Monday opening came back on July 1 after customers asked for it, so check the schedule if you plan a Monday visit and the post turns out to be old.
The clock is the menu
This is the part I wish someone had explained before my first sekukyaba years ago. The price of a set depends on what time you walk in. At X-PARTY, the regular price for one 40-minute set is:
| Time you enter | 40-minute set |
|---|---|
| 9:00–14:59 | ¥7,000 |
| 15:00–20:59 | ¥8,000 |
| 21:00–close | ¥10,000 |
A nomination (指名, choosing a specific woman) is ¥2,000 extra. Extensions are listed for the evening bands only: from 17:00 to 20:59 it's ¥8,000 for 40 more minutes or ¥7,000 for 20, and after 21:00 it's ¥10,000 for 40 or ¥8,000 for 20. The page doesn't list a daytime extension price, so ask before you say yes to more time.
The drinks are all-you-can-drink: shochu, whisky, beer, lemon sour, peach and cassis cocktails, and soft drinks. At 9:30 a.m. I had an oolong tea and felt no shame about it.
The morning rate is 30% cheaper than the late rate for the same forty minutes and the same room. The only difference is the sun.
The fourth-best deal
Here's the kind of thing I love about Tokyo pricing. On the morning I went, the shop's big banner, on both the official site and the event page, was a costume day: 全員爆乳ミニスカポリスorおいらんDAY, meaning every woman in either a miniskirt police uniform or an oiran (courtesan) outfit. The cast diaries that morning confirmed it. More than one post said, more or less, "I'm a police officer today, I'm going to arrest you." The event price was free 50 minutes for ¥6,000, or nominated 50 minutes for ¥9,000, with ¥1,000 added after 17:00 and ¥2,000 after 21:00.
Sounds good. Now look at the coupon page:
- New-customer premium coupon: free 40 minutes, ¥5,000. First visit and free choice only. Add ¥1,000 after 17:00. The fine print says that if they find out you've been in before, you pay the difference.
- MyHeaven members' coupon: free 50 minutes, ¥5,000. Requires a MyHeaven (CityHeaven account) registration, and returning customers can use it.
- Official site "HP割": also free 50 minutes for ¥5,000, if you register the shop on Kuchikomi Fuzoku Jōhōkyoku (fujoho.jp).
- Premium coupon: free 65 minutes for ¥8,000. Returning customers welcome, ¥1,000 extra after 17:00.
So the costume-day banner was, by my math, the fourth-best price on offer. Fifty minutes for ¥5,000 beats fifty minutes for ¥6,000 in every language. The event also says it can't be combined with other discounts. You pick one deal, so pick the right one.
The coupons advertise "50% OFF" and "60% OFF," which is technically true against ¥10,000 for 40 minutes. That's the late-night rate. Against the ¥7,000 morning rate, the discount is smaller. It's still a discount, just not the headline one. Every coupon says "show this screen at reception" and notes that it may be refused depending on how busy the shop is. At 9 a.m. on a rainy Monday, busy wasn't a problem.
Two rules that made me relax
Every coupon repeats the same two lines, and they're the reason I'd send a nervous first-timer here:
- 完全前金制: you pay everything up front.
- コール制で、自動延長等御座いません: extension is by call only, with no automatic extensions.
The classic sekukyaba horror story is the bill that grew while you weren't looking. The set ran out and the next one started because nobody asked you, or the drinks turned out not to be included. X-PARTY states in writing that it doesn't do that, and that all listed prices include tax and service charge. When staff came by near the end of my set, it was a question, not an invoice. I said no, and that was the end of it.
How a sekukyaba set actually works
For readers who've never been: in a free set (no nomination), more than one woman usually sits with you in rotation over the forty minutes. Japanese calls the extra ones helps. At most shops the seating is booth-style in a shared, dim room, and the lights and music change for the livelier part of the set. What's allowed is upper-body contact, and the women set the pace. It is not a private-room service, and you shouldn't expect it to be.
Two of X-PARTY's standing events work around the rotation:
- Dokusen shimei (独占指名), exclusive nomination: ¥12,000 for 40 minutes, and ¥12,000 per 40-minute extension. It means no help girls, so the woman you chose stays for the full set. It's for weekday visits only, costs ¥2,000 more after 17:00, and depends on how busy the shop is. It started as a before-15:00 option, and the event post announces it's now available after 15:00 too.
- Petit nomination (リクエスト): ¥1,000 at any time. You request a woman you've never sat with before, and she's guaranteed to appear during your free set. The shop pitches it at people who find full nomination pricey or are nervous about picking someone they've never met. The catch is the same honesty clause as the new-customer coupon: if it turns out you've sat with her before, it's billed as a nomination and you pay the difference.
For a first visit, I'd take the petit request: look at the day's roster, choose someone, and pay a thousand yen to make sure you meet her. It's the cheapest way to turn a free set into something that isn't a lottery.
There's also a same-day date set (同伴80分SET) at ¥25,000, with the date fee and nomination included. That's for regulars. Leave it alone on visit one.
The morning crowd
I won't pretend I did a census. It was quiet, which is the point of going at breakfast. The shop's schedule showed a full daytime lineup, with several shifts starting at 9:00 and running to mid-afternoon. The roster changes hour by hour, and a few names appear only in the evening. If you care who's there, check the schedule page before you go, not after.
What I noticed was the pace. Night-time sekukyaba can feel like a factory line. The morning version felt more like a slow bar with extremely friendly bartenders. I had a conversation with the help about the rain, the Yamanote Line, and whether New Yorkers really fold their pizza. (We do. It's structural.)
What I'd tell a first-timer
- Go before 15:00. The regular set is ¥7,000, versus ¥10,000 after 21:00, and the coupons carry a smaller evening surcharge anyway.
- Compare the coupon page with the banner. On my day, the free 50-minute ¥5,000 coupons beat the ¥6,000 costume-day event.
- Say which coupon you're using at reception, and have the screen ready. They're not combinable.
- Use the petit request (¥1,000) if there's someone on the roster you want to meet.
- Don't lie about being new. Both the new-customer coupon and the petit request say you'll be charged the difference.
- You'll be asked about extending; you won't be extended by default. Decide your budget before you sit down.
- Adults only. The shop states it refuses anyone under 18, high-school students included.
Verdict
X-PARTY knows exactly what it is: a big-bust sekukyaba with a strong morning game, three minutes from the busiest station in western Tokyo. The pricing is posted, prepaid and free of automatic extensions, which is more than I can say for some places I've been dragged into at 2 a.m. The only trap is thinking the loudest banner is the best deal.
It wasn't. Fifty minutes for five thousand yen on a rainy Monday morning was. I walked out at a quarter past ten into the same rain, with the same useless umbrella, and a better opinion of breakfast.