Bars & Cocktails

A bar on the second floor of a converted old house in a Tsukishima back street, two minutes from the station. It keeps whisky, wine and sake, and it also serves ramen: the owner worked in a well-known ramen restaurant before opening here, and makes both a thick iekei-style bowl and a clear shoyu one.

The hours have a gap in them. It serves from 11:00 to 20:00, shuts for an hour, and opens again from 21:00 to 01:00. It is closed on Mondays, has sixteen seats at a counter and tables, and welcomes dogs.

Good to know

• Closed on Mondays.
• The bar shuts between 20:00 and 21:00, so do not arrive in that hour.
• Only sixteen seats.
• The large ramen portion is not available.

The bar on the eleventh floor of the Tokyo Ginza Shiseido Building, open from 15:00 to 23:00 from Tuesday to Saturday. It opens earlier than most bars in Ginza, and from 15:00 to 18:00 it serves an aperitivo list with non-alcoholic cocktails at ¥1,000 and a glass of champagne at ¥1,500.

Standard cocktails start at ¥1,850 and the bar's own at ¥2,000, with a ¥1,000 cover charge per person at any hour. Food is served from 16:00 to 21:45 and includes the house cream croquettes at ¥2,000 and a wagyu fillet cutlet sandwich at ¥4,500.

Good to know

• A cover charge of ¥1,000 per person applies at all hours.
• Guests under 20 cannot use the bar.
• Closed on Sundays, Mondays and public holidays.
• Food is only served between 16:00 and 21:45.

A bar that opened in 1880 and has been in the same spot by the Kaminarimon crossing ever since. It is known for Denki Bran, a cocktail created here in 1882 with brandy as its base, blended with gin, wine, curaçao and herbs. It is 30 degrees; the Old version is 40.

The ground floor is the bar itself, where you buy a ticket at the door and then sit down. The first floor is Restaurant Kamiya, a western-style restaurant suited to families and groups, and the second is a Japanese restaurant. The main building was registered as a tangible cultural property in 2011.

Good to know

• On the ground floor you pay at the entrance first and receive a ticket; that floor does not take cards.
• Closing time is 20:00, with last orders at 19:30 — earlier than most bars.
• Closed on Tuesdays, and on two Mondays each month.

Bar Ishinohana is a basement cocktail bar a minute from Exit C1 of Shibuya Station, opened in 2003 by owner-bartender Shinobu Ishigaki, who won the senior category of the Bacardi Martini Grand Prix in Turin in 2005. The list runs from classic long drinks and stirred and shaken cocktails to a monthly set of original recipes built on Japanese fruit, and there is a separate low-alcohol and non-alcohol list. The bar is closed on Wednesdays, Thursdays and public holidays, and asks guests to be 20 or over. A cover charge of ¥500 per person applies.

Good to know

• Guests must be 20 or over. Under-20s are not admitted in any circumstances.
• A cover charge of ¥500 per person applies, and each guest must order at least one drink or one dish.
• House rules: no shots, no cigars, no baseball caps, no bomb-style drinks of any kind, and proper attire is requested.
• Closed on Wednesdays, Thursdays and public holidays.
• Sunday hours are given differently by the bar's own pages: the shop information and English location pages say 17:00–24:00, while the English reservation page says 16:00–23:00. Check before you go.
• Booking is not essential but is strongly recommended. The online form takes reservations for one or two people and asks for at least one week's notice.
• The bar states that reservations cannot be made through AutoReserve.
• The number of seats, payment methods, the smoking policy and whether prices include tax are not stated on the official site.

Bar BenFiddich is a 15-seat bar on the ninth floor of a building in Nishi-Shinjuku. There is no menu: the bar asks you to tell the bartender what you like and a cocktail is made for you. Bookings are taken through an online reservation page for three seatings a night, at 19:00, 21:00 and 23:00. The bar keeps an irregular schedule and closes when owner-bartender Hiroyasu Kayama is away, with the next month's dates announced on the 20th of each month. A sister bar, bar B&F, is on the second floor of the same building.

Good to know

• The bar strongly recommends booking in advance, as reserved guests are given priority and walk-ins may not be seated.
• Reservations are not accepted for groups of more than five people, and one group must not split itself across several bookings.
• A reservation is cancelled if you are 15 minutes late.
• The bar cannot always meet a request for a particular seat.
• The phone is not answered during opening hours, so use the online reservation page.
• Opening days are irregular and the bar closes when the owner-bartender is away; the next month's schedule is announced on the 20th of each month.
• Prices, cover charges, payment methods, the smoking policy and any age limit are not stated on the official site.

The TRAD is an authentic bar and cigar bar in Yushima that opened in 2016, with more than 1,000 single malts on the shelves and cocktails made with seasonal fresh fruit. The room has 20 seats in total, 10 at a single-slab counter and 10 at tables, with records played through a vacuum-tube amplifier. All prices on the menu include tax, and the menu is printed in both Japanese and English. Smoking is allowed everywhere inside and no one aged 20 or under may enter.

Good to know

• No one aged 20 or under may enter, under the local ordinance.
• Smoking is allowed throughout the bar, so it does not suit non-smokers or families.
• Alcohol is not served to anyone who arrived by car or bicycle.
• Cover charge ¥1,200 per person (tax included); a private room adds ¥2,000 per group.
• Cigars cannot be ordered within the last hour before closing.
• Payment is by credit card (JCB, VISA, Mastercard, AMEX).
• Closed over the New Year period.

A basement bar in Ginza 1-chome that the house describes as a traditional bar in the Ginza style, serving classic cocktails in its own reading of them, with a deep stock of old bottles of whisky and rum.

Ice is the thing it is known for. The bar uses three kinds — its hand-cut "ninja ice", so clear it disappears in the glass, a brilliant-cut cube, and its own natural ice — and invites guests to taste the difference between them. A cover charge of ¥1,100 per person is taken, and every seat is non-smoking.

Good to know

• Opening hours are not published on the bar's own site, so call before you go.
• A cover charge of ¥1,100 per person is taken.
• All seats are non-smoking.
• Drink prices are not published.

A bar lounge on the twenty-eighth floor of the Asakusa View Hotel, looking out over Asakusa. It serves food made with Japanese ingredients and drinks from Japanese producers.

Tea time runs from 12:00, and bar time from 17:00 to 23:00, with last orders at 22:00 for food and 22:30 for drinks. Where you sit changes the bill: the window rows carry a table charge, the counter does not.

Good to know

• After 20:00 nobody under eighteen is admitted.
• A table charge of ¥2,000 to ¥3,000 per person applies to the window seats; ask for the counter if you would rather not pay it.
• Reservations are taken by phone. The same-day line is open from 12:00 to 23:00.

GBF is a craft beer bar on the second floor of a building in Shoto, five to seven minutes on foot from Shibuya Station depending on which line you arrive on. It pours 24 beers on tap and keeps 50 kinds in cans, from Japanese and overseas brewers, alongside highballs, cocktails and soft drinks. The bar states in its FAQ that there is no cover charge, no otoshi and no service charge. Happy hour runs from 15:00 to 18:00, with ¥300 off pints and no ¥300 opening fee on canned beer. It is closed on Mondays.

Good to know

• Closed on Mondays and for part of the New Year holiday period.
• There is no cover charge, otoshi or service charge, but opening a canned beer costs ¥300 outside happy hour.
• On Sundays the last food order is taken at 22:00.
• Reservations are taken through Tabelog or by phone on 03-3770-5544. Private hire takes up to 64 seated or 100 standing.
• The bar says children are fine earlier in the evening and asks that they not come after 22:00.
• There is a lift, so the bar can be reached by wheelchair.
• The smoking policy, any age limit and whether prices include tax are not stated on the official site.

Albatross has been open since 1997 and is the only bar in Omoide Yokocho, the Showa-era eating and drinking lane by the west exit of Shinjuku Station. The bar describes itself as a gallery bar, with a chandelier hanging close overhead and artwork on the walls; it shows work by young artists across its branches. It opens every day of the year and stays open until at least 2:00 the next morning. The Omoide Yokocho shopping-street page gives a maximum capacity of 45 and lists payment as cash.

Good to know

• Friday and Saturday opening times are listed differently by the bar's own site and by the Omoide Yokocho shopping-street page, so check before you go.
• The Omoide Yokocho page lists payment as cash and was last updated as of March 2021.
• Whether prices include tax is not stated.
• Cover charges, the smoking policy and any age limit are not stated on the official site.
• Telephone 03-3342-5758. The bar also takes enquiries about private hire, pop-ups and filming.