Tokyo’s Golden Gai: The 5 Best Bars and All You Need to Know
What is the Golden Gai?
An Introduction to the Golden Gai in Tokyo
Here I will explain what the Golden Gai is in Tokyo, before going on to tell you everything you need to know before visiting the Golden Gai. Then I will share what I think are the 5 best bars in this quirky nightlife spot based on personal experience.
The Golden Gai was once Tokyo’s red light district. However, illicit activities were outlawed in 1958 and the area gentrified ever since.
Today, it has become a rugged district of around 280 tiny bars. Each bar in the Golden Gai has very few seats. More often than not you will be forced to move onto the next bar because the one you look at will have each of its 4-12 seats filled up. As a result you will often be walking up and down the winding alleyways that form this small neighbourhood before finding a bar that both appeals to you, and has seats available.
Theme Bars in the Golden Gai
Many of the bars have themes. Often a certain genre of music such as jazz or death metal, but sometimes something else.
The Open Book has shelves full of literature you can read whilst sipping on your latest sake. You may need to brush up on your Japanese though!
Bar Uramen is one for fans of Japan’s otaku (geek) culture with retro games available. If you like Tokyo’s Akihabara district, you’ll love this bar.
Many bars offer karaoke experiences, including Champion. This is one of the first bars you will encounter if you come from either route into the Golden Gai from Kuyakusho-dori.
Important Information to Know Before Visiting the Golden Gai
Some of the bars are members-only. You will not be able to enter these. They will have signs on the door letting you know this. Others will be more welcoming to foreigners. Some openly advertising themselves as being foreigner-friendly, others that will let you in but perhaps not be as warm and welcoming.
Bars serve a mixed range of drinks. The most common are sake (a popular Japanese rice wine you can find all over Tokyo), whiskey and beers.
Some bars even serve snake sake, known locally as habushu. Habushu stands out amongst all the other drinks, due to a fearsome-looking Habu snake inside the bottle. These snakes are real, and they’re highly venomous.
The alcohol inside the bottle nullifies the venom making it safe to drink. Unfortunately, very few bars in the Golden Gai sold snake sake, meaning we never found one with an empty seat. A real shame as snake sake was top of my bucket list to try in this fascinating district! If you wish to give habushu a go, Mongolian Drunk is one bar which sells it.
Most bars in the Golden Gai are cash only. Therefore you should always make sure you have enough yen before you come out for the night. Including cover charges, you are probably looking at over 1,000 yen (£5/$7) as the minimum for a drink here.
Do not worry about tips, as you should not tip in the Golden Gai or in Japan in general. The Japanese people are very proud of the service they provide and can be offended if you offer more than the prices they have already set.
How Much Does it Cost to Visit the Golden Gai?
The Golden Gai is free to access. Many of the bars however will have cover charges if you wish to buy a drink there.
Cover charges are small fees you have to pay in order to enter many of the Golden Gai’s tiny bars. Some places operate with no cover charge, however they will often compensate for this by charging more for drinks. Other bars have cover charges starting from 300 yen (£1.50/$2), sometimes going as high as 1,500 yen (£8/$10).
If you stay in one place for a long time, it may be worth paying a higher cover charge, as these bars (usually) charge less for drinks as a general rule. As with any rule, there are of course exceptions.
Some bars have signs by the entrance which say “no cover charge for foreigners”. Generally these are the places marketing themselves towards tourists, and therefore more welcoming to visitors from abroad.
Drinks generally start from 500 yen (£2.50/$3.50), and can go into the tens of thousands. Although unless you go for a whole bottle or a specialty drink, you’ll generally be paying 500-1,500 yen (£2.50-8/$3.50-10) for a single shot of spirits, small wine or a small bottle of beer.
How to get to the Golden Gai in Shinjuku
The Golden Gai is very easy to get to on Tokyo’s metro and railway systems. Here are the nearest stations to Tokyo’s popular nightlife spot:
- Shinjuku Station is a 7-minute walk away. This is the biggest station in the area. It serves ten different train lines and is home to Shinjuku Expressway Bus Terminal which connects with many other places in Japan
- Shinjuku-Sanchome Station is just a 2-minute walk away. It is a much smaller station offering services on three lines (The Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line, the Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line and Toei Shijuku Line)
- Higashi-Shinjuku Station is an 8-minute walk away. Two lines (The Toei Oedo Line and Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line) run from here
- Seibu-Shinjuku Station is a 7-minute walk from the Golden Gai. It hosts only the Seibu Shinjuku Line which goes between Seibu-Shinjuku Station and Hon-Kawagoe Station, a 64-minute train ride in total.
It is also possible to reach the Golden Gai by bus.
As alluded to above, Shinjuku Expressway Bus Terminal (also known as Basuta Shinjuku) is just a 7-minute walk away. Buses arrive here from Honshu, Kyushu and Shikoku – three of the four main islands making up Japan. There are around 1,600 buses going from the station every day, and a similar amount arriving to replace them.
Buses run as far as Fukuoka in the West of Japan and Aomori in the Northeastern tip of the mainland. The island of Hokkaido is the only major part of the country without links to this bus station. Therefore the Golden Gai is possible to reach without too much difficulty from almost anywhere in Japan!
A Map of the Golden Gai
Here’s a map of the Golden Gai to show you exactly where each bar is located. Unfortunately, many of the names on the map are only in Japanese, which can be confusing when they often refer to bars with English names.
To get around this issue, use the Google Lens feature in Google Translate to make translating the names very easy. I wrote a detailed guide on how to overcome language barriers with Google Translate which explains exactly how to use this feature.
This map is located next to Champion bar, which is the most common entry point into the Golden Gai.
Rules of the Golden Gai
The district has its own set of rules which are in line with Japan’s culture of respect. Locals and workers in the Golden Gai alike want to ensure this is a safe, pleasant and enjoyable place to visit. Therefore they have installed multiple signs explaining what you can’t do here.
Here’s a list of all the rules you should obey in the Golden Gai:
- No riding or parking bicycles
- No smoking outside
- No drunken behaviour
- No loud talking (a common rule all over Japan that is rare to find in Western countries)
- No “sitting down and staying the night” (passing out or drunkenly loitering when the bars are closed)
- No stickers or graffiti
- No “going to the toilet” in the streets – there are proper toilets near Champion bar
- No littering
- No drinking on the streets
- Don’t block people attempting to pass you on the streets
Whilst this may seem like a lot of rules to obey, it really does help keep the place enjoyable to visit. Although they aren’t obeyed flawlessly despite Japan’s reputation for discipline.
Whilst visiting the Golden Gai we saw one man who’d passed out, presumably from too much sake. Surprisingly, he appeared to be a local.
Still, compared to the carnage of a night out in the UK, the Golden Gai is a very safe and calm place to drink the night away.
It is also worth noting this is Japan. Whilst there is no dress code in the Golden Gai, it is respectful to dress conservatively and cover up any tattoos.
Rules Which Only Apply Outside the Bars
Different signs displaying the rules are dotted around the district. However a couple of them don’t apply inside the bars.
No smoking is the big one. Several bars do allow smokers, and it isn’t always obvious which ones. Must admit that as non-smokers, we were put off certain bars by the presence of smoke inside. If in doubt, ask the bar staff what the rules are on smoking. Many will speak enough English to be able to tell you. Those that don’t speak much English are generally found in the bars which are more geared towards locals anyway.
Oh, and the “no drinking” rule is the other which doesn’t apply inside the bars. Duh…
Golden Gai Opening Hours
The Golden Gai is open 24/7, the bars however are not. Sure, you might be able to get into Family Mart at 9am but you aren’t going to find a place for a good drink. This is very much a nightlife spot.
The earliest opening times for bars are around 5-5:30pm. Although there is little going on at this time. Local drinkers won’t arrive until several hours later, and you will often find yourselves alone in an empty bar with just the bar staff for company. Which can be good fun if that’s what you’re looking for.
Most bars in the Golden Gai open from around 7-8pm. Most bars will close around 5-6am the following morning and remain shut for at least 12 hours or so.
Is the Golden Gai Safe at Night?
The Golden Gai is incredibly safe at all times of day and night. Remember this is Japan and not the UK.
It may have been a red light district in the past, but this was back in the 1950s. Nowadays it is a more bohemian neighbourhood attracting a mix of artsy hipster types, curious tourists, and locals who love sipping on a sake at their favourite drinking spot.
Bizarrely, some travellers have claimed the Golden Gai is “unsafe” for foreigners because some bars are openly unwelcoming with “no foreigners” signs on their doors.
Um… this is Japan. If you’re upset by bars that only allow Japanese people then I’d suggest not being in Japan for much longer… Equally, I’m not quite sure how “unwelcoming” equates to “unsafe”.
I can confirm that the Golden Gai is ultra safe and you almost certainly won’t have any issues here unless you have some terrible luck. Although if you feel unsafe in the Golden Gai, then you will feel unsafe just about everywhere.
What are the 5 Best Bars in Tokyo’s Golden Gai?
It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for. Or perhaps skipped straight ahead to after ignoring the rest of this post. Which is also fine of course.
Admittedly we didn’t go to every bar. But we still explored a fair few, and here are what we thought were the top 5 bars in the Golden Gai:
Miku – Cover Charge 500 Yen (£2.50/$3.50)
Miku is a lovely quaint little spot near the main entry point to the Golden Gai. The highlight of this bar is the friendliness of staff and punters alike. The warm atmosphere inside Miku has made it an attractive spot amongst locals with several regulars coming back to squeeze into this tight spot.
Broken English is spoken in here, although the warm Japanese people will be more than accommodating towards you despite the language barrier.
Whiskey is popular in here, although we opted for a good Japanese sake. It was absolutely worth it!
Lonely – No Cover Charge
We went to this one after reading about it in an old Lonely Planet guide (from 2019). The owner, Arai-San (Mr. Arai if we anglicise his name) set this bar up in 1966 and it has been going strong ever since.
It is one of the cheapest bars in the Golden Gai with no cover charge (for foreigners) and cheap drinks starting from 700 yen (£4/$5).
One such drink for this price was the wonderful shochu and oolong tea. Shochu is a distilled Japanese spirit made from various starches (whereas sake is fermented and made primarily from rice). In some ways shochu is similar to the popular Korean spirit soju. Oolong tea is a popular drink in Japan that lies somewhere inbetween black tea and green tea.
Can confirm the two drinks combined are pretty wonderful!
The theme of Lonely combines boxing manga which adorns many of the walls, with foreign currencies stuck to the walls and ceiling. Arai-San is also said to be a dab hand with the guitar. We didn’t witness a performance ourselves, but have heard he can put on quite a show!
Oh, and this is a no-smoking bar too. An added plus for those who don’t love smoke on their jackets.
Troll – No Cover Charge
Troll is a small bar near the entrance to the Golden Gai, with a theme living up to its name – troll toys! There are plenty dotted around this quirky little drinking spot, including the heavily-tattooed chap pictured below.
The other noticeable feature here is the range of foreign banknotes stuck to the walls and ceiling. You can admire what they have, or even add your own.
In terms of drinks, there are many expensive whiskies here with costs running into tens of thousands of yen. Unless that’s what you really want, ask for a sake or a beer instead. Both drinks are very affordable.
Blue Dragon – No Cover Charge
A bar so good, I forgot to take pictures of the inside! Whoops.
This is the place to go if you’re looking for a social bar. It is one of the biggest bars in the Golden Gai with around 9 seats, it is also one of the few with a toilet inside.
The bar specialises mostly in sake, beer and to a lesser extent whiskey.
This is the place to be if you’re looking for new friends.
Bar Yadokari (Hermit Crab) – No Cover Charge
Completing our list of the best 5 bars in Tokyo’s Golden Gai is Bar Yadokari.
This is another cosy little spot which forces you to get close to strangers. Who knows, you may even end up making some friends!
The heating blasts from above the entrance here which makes it a great spot to warm up if you visit in the winter months.
As with many bars here, Bar Yadokari specialises in whiskey, although you can still grab a classic sake or a beer here.
Would highly recommend stopping for a drink!
Is the Golden Gai Worth Visiting?
The Golden Gai has some of the best bars in Tokyo which makes it worth visiting for anyone who loves to combine both a cultural experience and a nice drink.
It retains a lot of charm with its small cosy spots. The fact they have so few seats, makes it easy to make new friends here. Especially with the seats all surrounding the bar itself.
It is worth visiting Tokyo for many reasons, and the Golden Gai is just the icing on the cake!
Come here to dive into the local culture, make new friends, and see a side of Tokyo you may not recognise amidst the flashy buildings and bright neon lights.
You won’t regret it.
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