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The two XEX bars in Tokyo are wonderful insider secrets. The first, situated in the Atago Green Hills Mori Tower, is ten minutes from Roppongi and has spectacular views of the Rainbow Bridge and Tokyo Tower. The second, located in Daikanyama, is irrefutably the city’s best bar for spring/summer; it features the city’s trendiest folk and also serves very stylish teppanyaki.
Bill Murray's portrayal of a man navigating through the maze that is Japanese business and etiquette was critically acclaimed. Central to the movie was the hotel bar which is frequented. Why not treat yourself to sky-high views with cocktails to match (including the obligatory 'Lost in Translation' cocktail). Situated off Shinjuku, the bar is at the top of the ever so grand, Grand Hyatt - Tokyo.
Japanese bar with fantastic view and great cocktails.
http://r.gnavi.co.jp/fl/en/g002231/
Everyone I know uses Tokyofoodie.com to decide on restaurants in Tokyo. Well-written and comprehensive articles by other food lovers are perfect there.
www.tokyofoodie.com
www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2008/jan/18/tokyo.travelwebsites
This karaoke box can be hired by group of friends. There are all sorts of songs here, Japanese, British, American, Korean, Philipino, Chinese! It's only 2,000yen from 11pm until 7am (next day). You can drink as much as you want if you pay 1,000 yen on top. You can order drink by remote control.
shinjuku-ku, Kabuki-cho, 1-3-16
www.pasela.co.jp/shop/ps207/207.html
On the east side of Shinjuku station, to the north of the Odakyu department store look for the alleyways of Shoniben Yokocho - "Piss Alley"!
Don't let the name put you off - this area has loads of small bars selling yakitori. Choose your own kebabs - chicken, tomatoes, fish, pork, etc and have them barbecued as you listen to the banter from the chefs and barmaids to the passing customers. Beer and lemon bitters to drink with the locals, bags of noise and atmosphere and very cheap!
Nishi-Shinjuku, east of Shinjuku station
The Golden Gai is one city block near Shinjuku station, made up of tiny alleyways. This block has around 250 teensy bars, all of which are unique. There are ground floor ones, 1st floor ones, film ones, literary ones, ones that look like a living room or kitchen, very welcoming ones and one or two that don't really like foreigners. They pretty much all have a seating charge of around 500 yen.
Go and walk around and choose your bar. You might get the one where film directors have their own bottles displayed around the bar.
1-1-8 Kabukicho, Shinjuku-ku. Closest station: Shinjuku, east exit. It's next to Hanaono Shrine.
Mother is a grimy basement bar in Kabuchicho which has space for at most 12 svelte people. It has a CD menu (that's right menu!!) that anyone with a love of alternative music or metal would crawl over glass to look at and request from. Which figuratively you may have to, to find it. It's a great place to chat to Tokyoites (between songs obviously) about shared musical loves.
Exit JR Shinjuku Station's East Exit and pass Alta then cross Yasukuni Dori, go down the narrow street which has a Scottish Pub on the right about a third of the way down. At the end of the block on the right is a great bar, Shuffle Beat (also worth a visit), Mother is on the street to the left and almost right in front of you, look out for a small sign and plunge down those darkened stairs.
On the 52nd floor of the Park Hyatt hotel in Shinjuku. Made famous by the film Lost in Translation, this rather pricey venue nevertheless offers fantastic views of the city, 235 metres above ground.
Park Hyatt Hotel; 52F Nishi-Shinjuku 3-7-1; Tel: 00 81 3 5323 3458
This dark and intimate bar is located only five minutes from the ever-bustling Shibuya train station.
If you can find the subterranean entrance, the temple-like Tantra is a welcome retreat from the frantic pace of Tokyo life, making it a favourite of locals and foreigners in the know.
Descending down a narrow incense-filled stairway, guests are asked by staff to wait while a space is prepared. Customers will be seated in either the main bar area or in one of two smaller curtained alcoves.
Guests will find themselves reclining back on sumptuous floor cushions, soothed by soft ambient music. In the two alcoves, sectioned off with draped fabric, there are screens that play an endless stream of abstract images.
The bar is decorated with Tantric stone sculptures, panels and figures. A large Buddha’s head rests in the centre of the main room. Candles are the only source of light and feed the otherworldly atmosphere - a sanctuary from the madness above.
Address: B1F Ichimainoe Bldg., 3-5-5 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Phone: +81(0)3-5485-8414
Hours: Open 8 p.m.-5 a.m. Monday to Saturday.
Food and drink served.
These alleys of shoddy two-storey buildings in Shinjuku house 200 bars, one "police box", a Shinto shrine and a motley population of mama-sans, transvestites, former prostitutes and 60s radicals.
It is vintage post-war Tokyo in all its cramped, chaotic glory. The bars - most of them big enough only for a counter and a dozen or so stools - are housed in buildings of wood and corrugated iron thrown up for hookers and pimps during the allied occupation.
Several decades have passed since Golden-gai was primarily a lure to the libido, but the narrow lanes have not entirely lost the feel of a red-light district. When business is slow and the air muggy, the silhouettes of mama-sans (some of whom are actually middle-aged men) can be seen in pink-lit doorways as they fan them selves and listen to scratchy records of Edith Piaf or experimental jazz.
In the 60s and 70s most of the brothel-keepers were replaced by counter-culture dropouts who turned the area into a hub of political conspiracy and intellectual foment. At its peak it attracted thinkers such as the author Yukio Mishima and the film-maker Nagisa Oshima.
Directors, painters and writers are still drawn to an area that refuses to make way for rampant materialism. Shadow, a bar run for more than 20 years by a communist, is decorated with items found in rubbish dumps. Jetee, owned by a former film distributor, includes Wim Wenders and Juliette Binoche among its occasional customers.
A few strides to the west are the blazing neon lights and noisy pachinko parlours of the ultra-sleazy Kabukicho sex district; behind are the futuristic 40-storey towers of the municipal government offices in Shinjuku.
The traditional Japanese onsen is a bathing experience in the geothermic pools of mineral-rich natural waters of the earth. For the less discerning, or those too busy to make the journey to a reputable onsen, the sento - or "public bath" - is the best alternative. As you might imagine, Tokyo possesses the best such indoor facility in the guise of the Finlando sauna in Kabuki-Cho.
Although sentos do not feature the ambience of a truly picturesque outdoor onsen, they make up for it in a perspiration-inducing array of hot pools, cold plunges, saunas, massage rooms and the counter-intuitive pleasures of underwater electrocution. When you're done, shave and preen yourself with complimentary toiletries, collapse in a massage chair, and order a bottle of Ebisu beer before you pass out. Incidentally, staying all night is allowed, what better reason to miss your last train out of Shinjuku...
Open 24 hours. In the Humax Pavilion 1 basement, underneath the Liquid Room in Kabuki-cho, 5 mins' walk from Shinjuku Station (03-3209-9196)
The Warrior Celt is a friendly Scottish-style pub located up a slightly dingy flight of stairs in central Ueno. It is both a favourite with local salarymen in search of a pint of guinness on the way home and a younger crowd attracted by live music on Friday and Saturday nights.
Near Ueno station, down the rodeo street and look for the sign.
One of Tokyo's smaller clubs, La Fabrique has a warm atmosphere and one of the best sound systems. Music varies depending on the night, be sure to check their website before venturing in. Oh and don't bother going before midnight; it'll be half-empty.
Zero Gate B1F, 16-9 Udagawa-cho, Shibuya-ku 150-0042
Nearest station: Shibuya
lafabrique.jp
It's quite hard to find, especially if you're not used to Tokyo. Your best bet is to ask one of the many kids you'll see hanging around for directions.
The first two are more laid-back women's bars in Shinjuku 2. Fuji is great to go to if you have male mates; stuck in the early 70s. Good if/when Kinswomyn is too high on the energy scale. The Tokyo "out" women's scene is quite small, so people do tend to know each other well and are very friendly. There’s also a high butch rate.
Shinjuku 2-7-2 2F
homepage2.nifty.com/mars21/
Moonshiner:
Shinjuku 3-8-5 Kanagawa Bldg B1 03-3355-6938
Fuji is in the basement of an obscure building; ask around
Not what you'd immediately think of when visiting Tokyo, this wonderfully friendly restaurant in Shinjuku 3(san)-chome is well worth looking out if you've had your fill of rice, fish or noodles. It happens!! The owners and staff are friendly and the food is cooked almost in front of you. If you phone ahead larger parties can be accommodated. Being a Japanese or Turkish speaker would be advantageous here. It's probably a good idea to phone ahead anyway as the restaurant is popular especially when the belly dancer is doing the rounds! Opposite Istanbul is the semi-legendary Rolling Stone (immortalised in 'Angry White Pyjamas' anyway), a fine bar if you like dark bars, vinyl, drag queens and top quality tunes.
T160-0022, Shinjuku 3-8-2, Kurosu biru B1 (basement). Open between 5:00pm-12:00pm. Telephone 03 3225 4080. From JR Shinjuku Station head east along Shinjuku-dori. The large Isetan is on the right and Marui on the left. At Meiji-dori in front of you across from Isetan is a cinema and a branch of Sanwa Bank, between them is a narrow street. Go down this street until the last block and on the left down in the basement is Istanbul.
Women-only bar in the heart of Shinjuku Ni-chome (left-of-centre gay district). Free entry, drinks start at Y700 - laugh with the friendly regulars and Tara, the R&B-loving owner. One of the finest women's bars you're likely to visit!
It seems odd that a population that spends its day trapped in an office should want to drink in a bar decorated with photocopiers and waste paper bins, but Office appears to have little trouble pulling in the young crowd. The menu is extensive, the atmosphere friendly, and the drinks keep coming until the early hours.
Leave Exit No 2 of Gaienmae metro station; www.transit-web.com/
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