TOKYO DRINKS: Golden Gai
Dear Foodie Fam,
If you prefer to drink with and like the locals abroad, read on to see why you need to visit Golden Gai (“Golden District” 新宿ゴールデン街) in Shinjuku.
Dutch and I aren’t our happiest or comfiest exploring the newest, trendiest bars. We do love our dive bars. Golden Gai is just what we were looking for in Shinjuku, Tokyo.
Golden Gai district is smaller than a football field. It consists of only six dark, tight alleyways flanked by shabby two or three story buildings huddled close together. For such a modest neighborhood of wooden shanties, it’s remarkable that there are 200 bars, here.
てらたにこういち - Shinjuku Golden-Gai in morning • Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo pref., Japan.
This charming area -though gimmicky- is the opposite of what is shiny, new and in vogue. There are so many bars here because each bar is the size of a bedroom! Some bars can only host 5-6 people. Most bars house between 6 and 10. Some bars host up to 30. Each is charming and themed. You may find your favorite one by following the sound of boisterous laughter tucked away past steep, tapered stairways.
After a massive earthquake in the 1920s and the destruction of WWII, Japan moved forward optimistically with a modern architectural endeavor. The resulting economic comeback crested in the 1960s with the realization of a new neon-lit, skyscraper-packed Tokyo scene. This scene pushed the black market out of the city center and into Golden Gai, where it flourished (prostitution in particular). Eventually, the market here turned from catering to prostitution culture to drinking culture.
The Golden Gai alleys became a time capsule sheltered by locals even from the Yakuza. Today, Golden Gai is a rare time capsule of post-WWII drinking culture. This is seen as a great “non-toursity” tourist spot. Although bars here have the right to only cater to regulars, it’s often lauded as the friendliest cluster of bars in Tokyo. Here, you may be seated so close to others, you will have to socialize with them!
Finding Golden Gai
Golden Gai is a short walk (about 10 minutes long) from the east exit of Shinjuku Station, between the Shinjuku City Office and the Hanazono Shrine.
What you Need to Know Before Visiting
Bars open at 9PM.
There’s food here, but not that much. It’s smarter to eat before visiting Golden Gai.
Given bars can only seat and tend to a limited amount of customers at a time, many bars have a cover charge.
Drinks here are a little more expensive than elsewhere as they usually see well-to-do business men.
This place is very cash-only.
When in Golden Gai…
Since Golden Gai is still a private neighborhood, it’s smart not to make trouble in the alleys: refrain from drinking, smoking, shouting, singing… even taking photography in the alleys ( I failed at this last one).
Know where you are welcome: Some bars here are so local, they are “Ichigen-san”. These do not serve foreigners or tourists. These are very old school establishments that choose to reserve their seats for regulars (usually suit-clad business men). There’s amiable, quirky signs everywhere, so look for the ones with a lot of English on them. These usually are very tourist-friendly.
Order Shōchū (焼酎) -a local favorite drink- if you want a good icebreaker.
Say:
Osusume? (おすすめ) means “Recommendation?”
Kudasai (ください ) means “please.” Use this to order.
Kampai! (かんぱい or 乾杯) means “Cheers!”
Our Experience:
Dutch and I definitely did not choose to go to the bars that most American blogs and publications have suggested. We were determined to wander into a place that spoke to us personally… which sounds idealistic but with 200 bars that could be explored quickly, we were confident.
The first bar we went to was found because I am a big karaoke fan. I was determined to sing karaoke in Japan. I’ve sung karaoke at almost every bar in Sacramento where it’s been offered to me and probably the accumulation of days worth of hours singing with family members at home. This singing is done quite shamelessly, regardless of whether I sound good or not!!!! SORRY NOT SORRY.
We followed the sound of booming singing voices up a slender, steep wooden staircase slathered with framed photos and prints. At the top of the stairs and to the right, we found a small bar that was probably like 9’ x 15’ and had 8 seats.
The theme here seemed to be music. The walls were lined with tape cassettes and CD albums on shelves appearing to be made for just that. Everything was dim, slightly grimy, dusty and clad in wood and black-and-white Mod photography.
… Alas, there wasn’t any karaoke singing here… just… singing…
There was a raucous group of what looked like young female print models struggling to take one selfie that included all of them. In their endeavor, they roped us in to take the photo for them. After doing so, we drank a little with them while they were belting out and requesting music… this behavior got them kicked out quite early in the night. We were then sitting with about three regulars that were pretty agitated. It was awkwardly quiet and though we had some conversation, their answers seemed a little snarky, so we left that bar and sought the next.
It was a fun challenge to find our next bar because we didn’t have enough cash for cover charges. Around the corner and on a ground floor, we saw a yellow door on a red wall. These are our lucky colors. Above the door was this sign: “ECLIPSE.”
In order to appreciate this bar selection, you need to know something about Dutch.
Dutch comes from a line of winning jockeys who garnished tons of title awards in the Philippines and even some here in California. Horses are a symbol of his family… so you can imagine how at home we felt when we opened the door to this cozy horse-themed bar.
This bar is called Eclipse. It could have easily seated six people but was hosting four (including us). There were two bartenders. The younger one spoke enough English to have a comfortable conversation. She explained that the owner of this miniature bar loved horse racing. We told her about Dutch’s family and instantly everyone in the bar lit up with eager interest.
The four of us eventually found ourselves exchanging broken sentences back and forth, peppered with names of jockeys and horses like California Chrome. One of us would offer a word or two in Japanese or in English and the rest of us would reward it with an eager nod and laugh. We were all smiling and you could feel our excitement surpassing our ability to communicate verbally. We were all so happy to bond over horses.
Everyone in the bar seemed to know each other. With exception of the younger bartender, they all wore glasses and paperboy hats and looked to be older than 50. The bar was bathed in amber lighting and the only cool color came from a small television tuned into what seemed to be a channel dedicated to horse races and related reporting. At the moment, a report was showing young children doing tricks on horses. The younger bartender explained it was an exhibition in which kids learned how to handle their horses! Too cute.
Given the ease and warmth we felt here, I ordered a glass of wine so we could bask in the comfort. Dutch had a Sapporo.
We eventually wrenched ourselves away from our new friends since we knew we had to get up early, the next morning.
Yet, Golden Gai wouldn’t let us go so easily.
At the edge of the district was a larger bar that could hold about 30 people crammed together. It faced a large red torii set at one of the entrances to Golden Gai. Outside, a Filipina called to passerbys announcing a discounted cover charge. Karaoke music blared from the bar and with Dutch’s prodding, we entered the bar to fulfill my bucket list item…
This actually turned out to be Champion Bar. Champion Bar is lauded all over the internet for being one of the most accessible, tourist-friendly bars in all of Golden Gai.
There were small groups of friends having a good time in here- I don’t think there were any regulars or locals. Everyone seemed to be tourists and everyone seemed to be engaging in a good sort of revelry. In the corner of the bar, we saw a Filipino flag and a Santo Niño. These were definite Filipino emblems. Maybe the Filipina outside owned this snug establishment?
The bartender was wearing a shirt that also said some sort of Filipino reference which I don’t remember, now. Dutch pointed it out when he served us our drink. The bartender ducked down as if to sneak under the blanket of insistent but blissful off key singing and told us he was Japanese but could speak fluent Tagalog.
Dutch told the bartender that I was Filipina and still didn’t know Tagalog. The man told Dutch I should learn Tagalog!
He met his wife in the Philippines and lived and worked there alongside her for years. Now that they were in Golden Gai, they owned this bar, which is now familynrun. Their son was also behind the counter and he shook our hands genially.
When I finally got the microphone, I sang “Feel My Love” to Dutch. That’s one of our songs. I was happily sloshed -the edge of ideally drunk- and we made a pretty mushy spectacle of this song... for anyone watching… which by this time -much to my gladness- no one was. It was as if the bar had really knitted together those already pooled beside each other. It seemed everyone was truly enjoying their own little group bonding over drinks (the way Japanese business people do)!
Swapping stories at a horse-themed miniature bar and then chatting with a Japanese Tagalog-speaker over drinks in Shinjuku had an intriguingly calming effect. It felt like amongst the clatter, we had entered a bubble of home-like peace. We were suddenly very aware of how small the world was and yet how lucky we were to be so far from home, together.
It was a very sweet way to end our night in Golden Gai.
