Drinking in the Classic Red Light District of Taipei

Mama-sang Siena is the Queen of Tiaotong. This is her bar.

Location: Tiatong District, Taipei, Taiwan

Drink: Highball with Kakubin (Suntory) blended whisky

Establishment: Bar Nine

Music: “The Moon Represents My Heart” by Ashin

Walk into Bar Nine in Taipei, and you will be greeted by shouts of "Huanying guanlin (欢迎观临)!" and "Irasshaimase (いらっしゃいませ)!" from the charming ladies wearing bright Japanese kimonos. 

"This is Taiwan, but this establishment is completely Japanese style. There is nothing like this in Taiwan," the lovely bartender and hostess Zoe says to me.

Bar Nine is one of the most well-regarded Japanese-style drinking establishments in the historic Tiaotong district. Here in Tiaotong, the classic red lantern culture of Japanese nightclubs of the past is preserved. The district was once occupied by Imperial Japan, then it became a bar district for American troops stationed in Taiwan from 1954 until 1979, and then it became a favorite of Japanese businessmen again in the 1980s. 

"Tiaotong is a very special place, and it is also the most diverse place in Taiwan." - Siena

Siena, the owner and mama-sang of Bar Nine. Donglin News/台灣啟示錄. Watch on YouTube.

Tiaotong culture has experienced a surge in nostalgic popularity in recent years. A 2021 Netflix series Light the Night depicts the life of the bar girls who worked here in the 1980s. The visuals are bright and stunning. The sweet music of Liu Chia-chang and Weng Ching-Hsi, who wrote music for Teresa Teng, permeates the series. Customers who come to a classy whisky bar here want to experience the gritty romance they imagine of bygone days.

Siena, a former bar girl in the district, founded Bar Nine in 2012 and now operates tours through the district in which she explains the culture. 

There are basically two types of "Japanese-style drinking establishments," she said in an interview in 2018: "one type sells love, one type sells friendship. The bar I manage now in Tiaotong is the later."

The talented women who work there are kind of like modern-day geishas. They speak Chinese, Taiwanese, English, and Japanese. Siena in another interview that said she learned the arts of flower arrangement and tea ceremonies when she was a young bar girl. They mix drinks, engage in conversation, sing songs, and make the customers feel welcome.

The bartender-hostesses introduce themselves. There's Zoe, who has piercings in her lip and golden rings on almost all of her fingers. She was wearing a black and red kimono. She said she couldn't speak English when she was hired here seven years ago but she "learned by speaking every night." She poured me a high ball.

There's Yumi wearing a white kimono with red fish patterns.