OSAKA ¨C Around two dozen people shuffle about the dark interior of Alzar, a recently opened nightclub on the eighth floor of a building in Osaka¡¯s Chuo Ward that also features a capsule hotel and sauna. Most hover near the concrete wall, watching a European DJ play house music. A group orders Champagne, taking swigs straight from the bottle before one of them stumbles out onto the dancefloor to a chorus of laughs.
It¡¯s a small crowd for a Friday night. Alzar only opened last month, but Katsuhiro Nakano, CEO of Alzar¡¯s parent company, New Japan, sees this place as a new opportunity for the city¡¯s many electronic music artists and fans.
¡°I think for the majority of people in Osaka, clubs still seem scary,¡± he says. ¡°You have to deal with nanpa (guys trying to pick up girls) and it¡¯s just annoying. I want to change their minds.¡±
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