Drinking Japan. Chris Bunting
staff leave. Some people return home between August 13 and 15, some between July 13 and 15 and some according to the old lunar calendar, which hits a different date every year. The August dates are the big ones: any visit between August 8 and 16 is likely to be affected by Obon.
Costs
Japan has a reputation for being expensive. In truth, it really depends on when you come to the country and how your home country’s currency is doing against the yen at the time. When I first arrived in Japan, the yen was weak and the conversion I got used to at that time made Japanese prices seem pretty reasonable. When I began researching this guide, the yen was stronger and therefore costs seemed higher, though still fairly acceptable. The subsequent collapse of the dollar and the pound against the yen made almost all prices seem frightening for a while. The situation will almost certainly have changed again by the time you read this.
Shōchū Bar Gen, Shibuya, Tōkyō (page 107).
Bottle keep
Some bars in Japan provide a service called botoru kiipu (“bottle keep”). The customer buys a whole bottle of alcohol but does not have to drink it in one sitting. Instead, it is marked with a name and kept at the bar for the customer’s next visit. Nowadays, the bottle is bought from the bar itself, but botoru kiipu has its roots in the 1950s, when some drinkers would bring their own bottles to bars, pay a corkage and return to drink the contents over many sittings. In those days it was hard for some bars to get good whisky, but they offered their customers a pleasant atmosphere, proper glassware and ice. Suntory’s tremendously successful Torys Bar chain adopted the idea (but insisted that you had to buy their whisky), and helped spread the practice across the country. In most bars, the price of the bottle should work out slightly cheaper than buying by the glass. A good rule of thumb is to expect the bottle to cost about 10 times the price of a single shot.
There are bars in this guide that are expensive, but I have made an effort to include a good number of cheaper bars in every section. In general, if you are traveling on a budget, a willingness to try indigenous alcohols like awamori, shōchū and, to a lesser extent, sake will throw up more bargains than foreign imports like whisky, beer and wine.
The Watami chain has more than 600 outlets across Japan.
Chain pubs
There are a growing number of chain izakaya in Japan. Independent bar owners complain such chains are squeezing out the little men. Few of them offer the range of alcohols offered by the best independent establishments, and the quality of the service is often noticeably worse. If you are near an independent izakaya, I would recommend giving it a try before trooping into the chain. However, it has to be admitted that the ubiquity of the chains can offer reassurance in an unfamiliar location. Some relatively small chains like Kaasan, Himonoya and Komahachi have found their way into this guide on their own merits, but the most successful izakaya chain in Japan is Watami, with more than 600 outlets. It is not at all bad and is definitely worth considering as a back-up. The drink list is not particularly extensive, but there is always some high-quality sake and shōchū available. I have noticed some good Japanese whisky creeping onto the menu in the last couple of years. Watami styles itself as a “family friendly” izakaya and my wife says she often opts for Watami over the more atmospheric independent bars if she is having a drink on her own out of town. The interiors are usually open and well lit, and there is a slightly more anonymous feel to these places, which she says lends itself to having a quiet drink and bite to eat as a solitary woman. The group uses various logos for different parts of its chain, but look out for its name: Watami (わたみ or 和民).
Read more
The more I have studied Japanese alcohol, the more I have realized that it is not possible to do justice to the topic in a single volume. There are dozens of bars and many topics that I would have liked to have covered here but which had to be chopped out in the final edit. The following English language sources will take you further:
Books
The Sake Handbook by John Gauntner (Tuttle, 2002). An interesting, authoritative and comprehensive guide to sake.
Sake’s Hidden Stories by John Gauntner (ebook, 2009). Reaches beyond technical explanations, uncovering the human stories behind sake. Available only as an ebook: www.sake-world.com/html/sakeshiddenstories.html.
The Insider’s Guide to Sake by Philip Harper (Kodansha, 1998). Slightly older than Gauntner’s handbook but offers an extremely informative survey of the topic. The writing is lyrical in places.
Sake: A Modern Guide by Beau Timken and Sara Deseran (Chronicle Books, 2006). Much less detailed than Gauntner’s and Harper’s books but has an appealing introduction that communicates the essential information in a clear and entertaining way.
Japanese Whisky: Facts, Figures and Taste by Ulf Buxrud (DataAnalys, 2008). A comprehensive and detailed guide to the Japanese distilleries.
Other media
Anything by Nicholas Coldicott, the drinks writer of The Japan Times, is essential reading.
Metropolis Magazine. Good features and bar reviews.
Websites
Sake world (www.sake-world.com). Another mention for John Gauntner. His website is full of information about sake, as well as details of his seminars and professional courses, which have trained many of the leading figures in the international sake scene. Gauntner’s email newsletter is also packed with information.
Bento.com (www.bento.com). The leading English-language guide to eating and drinking in Tōkyō, Yokohama, Ōsaka, Kyōto and Kōbe. Its regularly updated restaurant and bar reviews are informative and reliable.
Brews News (www.bento.com/brews.html). Brews News is hosted on the www.bento.com servers but offers such a good coverage of the Japanese craft beer scene that it deserves separate mention. Maintained by Bryan Harrell, the leading expert on Japanese beer.
Boozelist (www.boozelist.blogspot.com). A constantly updated list of craft beers on tap in the Tōkyō and Yokohama area, plus beer and bar reviews on linked websites. Maintained by Chris “Chuwy” Philips, who taught me most of what I know about Japanese beer.
Beer in Japan (www.beerinjapan.com). Very good coverage of the Japanese craft beer scene.
Tokyo Foodcast (tokyofoodcast.com). A consistently interesting blog about Tōkyō food and sake by “Et-chan and Te-chan.”
Tokyo Through the Drinking Glass (www.tokyo-drinkingglass.blogspot.com/). “Life, wine, and the pursuit of sake” by Melinda Joe, who writes for Bento.com and The Japan Times.
Urban sake (www.urbansake.com). A great resource for US-based sake fans. Includes guides to drinking and buying sake in several major American cities.
Nihonshudō NYC (www.nihonshudo-nyc.blogspot.com/). A blog about New York’s flourishing sake scene.
Drinking Japan (www.drinkingjapan.com). My own website. It offers news and updates relating to this guide, and detailed referencing to