Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on April 2011

In this installment of Retro Metro we unearth the rare, not-even-backed-up-on-floppy-disk Tokyo Classified issue 213 from April 25, 1998.

While last week’s Metropolis Golden Week Special was about achieving rejuvenation in light of recent events, thirteen years ago—before the magazine’s name-change was a doodle on the Devlins’ napkin—we were talking about your Golden Week “shine,” too.

Tokyo Classified wasn’t yet the slick glossy Metropolis mag it is today. Advanced floppy disk technology was yet to be pioneered (or the disks have just been, uh, “misplaced”). This meant hunting around in our cellars with gas masks and torches to find the remaining print issue, and then learning how to use a high-tech system known as “Scanner.”

Golden Week 1998 hotspots offered up were all out the shade of Tokyo’s buildings and into the sunshine. Writer Larry Cafiero suggested basking on the beaches of Cebu in the Philippines, Thailand, Hawaii and Okinawa. Airfares seemed eerily similar to today.

The big screen was graced with some now classics (Titanic, The Full Monty, Jackie Brown and Pierce Brosnan as 007 in Tomorrow Never Dies) and resident reviewer Don Morton was cutting his teeth by chewing through them. The Orb were making their annual appearance in Japan (at Roppongi’s High Camp Qoo—whatever that is/was). Photographer extraordinaire Beezer was out on the town asking folks what their poison was—including then bartender and now Pure chain co-owner Blake Showalter.

So click on our new (but old-skool) downloadable “mini mag” for your enjoyment. Check out some of the then goings-on in the city; see if you recognize any faces and places, hell even get personal with some old personals.

As always, let us know what you think in the comments. We’ll keep mining our 1994-2011 archives for you—so we can keep getting Retro, our dear Metro.