interview: listening minibar MIDORI roams around tokyo in MINI car

listening minibar MIDORI in Tokyo serves drinks and plays music

The listening minibar MIDORI roams around Tokyo, Japan, using a bright green 1977 MINI Clubman Estate car with a renovated off-grid trailer. The pop-up concept bar parks in a location, plays vinyl and CD records and remixes, and serves drinks to the public. designboom interviews its owner, Shiori Tanaka, who tells us the project begins when she inherits the 1977 MINI vehicle from its previous owner at an unplanned moment. ‘The moment I saw its shape, I came up with the idea of turning it into a mobile listening bar around Tokyo,’ the owner shares.

While she thinks of the concept of playing records wherever MIDORI stops around Tokyo, it is Shogo Jimbo, the Drivethru magazine director, who brings in the idea of a listening minibar. ‘He renovates an off-grid trailer called Mobile SS into a listening room. He launches it as a sustainable project that incorporates culture,’ Shiori Tanaka explains to designboom. With the towable trailer at the back, the owner drives the MINI car around Tokyo. She follows the tour schedule then that the team shares on the Instagram page of the listening minibar MIDORI.

all images courtesy of minibar MIDORI

Vintage 1977 MINI Clubman Estate as the roaming bar

The 1977 MINI Clubman Estate serves as the minibar of MIDORI. Shiori Tanaka transforms the passenger seats at the back as the place to serve cocktails and drinks. She flaps the back doors open for extra space and ventilation. The owner also replaces the rear window with a flap-style acrylic to act as the serving counter. After the Tokyo music fans stop by to get drinks at the listening minibar MIDORI, they can move to the off-grid trailer with solar panels on top for some tunes. Since it’s bigger, the trailer can accommodate a couple of people inside.

Shiori Tanaka tells designboom that the design team strips down most of the trailer’s interior to a skeleton. They apply wooden panels ‘dyed in the same color as the steering wheel’ inside. On one end of the listening minibar MIDORI in Tokyo, there’s audio equipment for the DJ or music producer. ‘I use an old HITACHI boombox, a portable Bluetooth speaker from BOSE, and a TDK BOOMBOX for louder sound. The last time we collaborated with a DJ, we connected turntables to play records on the street. The sound experience is enhanced by custom vacuum tube amplifiers designed by Komatsu Sound Lab,’ the owner shares with us.

bright green 1977 MINI Clubman Estate car as the minibar

larger car for a project called ‘Bigbar’ in the future

The owner adds that, at times, they work with DJs to remix the records they have on board. They can even play their own music for the crowd. In this way, visitors can enjoy music and have drinks. This means they can do so whether it’s inside the trailer or just beside the refurbished MINI Clubman Estate. Shiori Tanaka lets us know that for the minibar, she deliberately goes for a vintage car instead of a typical food truck. For her, it brings charm to the visitors and it’s more accessible. ‘Also because I really love cars,’ she says. Then, another reason she brings the listening minibar MIDORI in Tokyo to life is because she wants visitors to feel stimulating joy in their lives.

‘For example, when traveling to unfamiliar places, people might stumble upon a stall on the street, where fun music is playing, and stop by casually,’ she shares with us. ‘They might make friends there, and that experience could become one of their most memorable moments of the trip. However, living in Japan often makes such spontaneous and exciting experiences harder to come by since everything can be found via Google Maps or social media. I hope to offer that kind of serendipitous stall experience for people living in Tokyo and Japan with the listening minibar MIDORI.’ So far, it’s a pop-up concept mobile bar that stops by around Tokyo. ‘However, I might consider using a larger car for a project called Bigbar in the future,’ Shiori Tanaka tells designboom.

the vintage MINI tows a refurbished off-grid trailer called Mobile SS