Tokyo Nightlife

Tokyo Nightlife consists of a wide number of popular hotspots and hidden gems throughout the city. It is hard to pinpoint to any single area or region as there are countless bars, taverns, pubs, clubs, and hotspots throughout the city that are popular with young people and foreigners alike. While it is hard to get into any of the best known locales without connections, the array of options is very wide.

Most bars in Tokyo are open from 6pm to midnight as are most clubs, however the admissions and expectations do not get higher until around 10pm when it is nearly impossible for anyone that is not with a regular customer to be admitted into popular locations. The city’s gay and lesbian bars and clubs are concentrated in certain areas of the city as well, with the Shinjuku 2-chome area being a particularly popular spot. However, many of these bars are private in nature and will require special privileges or connections to get into.

Additional nightlife options of choice are hostess bars and karaoke bars. Hostess bars are usually where women work to entice men into buying drinks as they keep them company and karaoke bars are usually available in Japanese language only and are extremely popular with denizens of all ages.

Sample Locations

Here are some sample popular locations to visit in Tokyo from various different types of establishments:

Bars and Taverns

• Cerveza – 3-11-10 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Coco Roppongi Building basement. Has a huge assortment of international beers.

• Rokkon – 3-17-25 TK Building, B1, Nishi Azabu, Minato-ku. Serves Japanese food and sake and has plenty of both western and Japanese seating. No English.

Dance Clubs

• Velfarre – 7-14-22 Roppongi, Minato-ku. This is one of the biggest and most popular clubs in Tokyo for the sub-30 crowd – extremely hard to get into.

• Yellow – 1-10-11 Nishi Azabu, Minato-ku. A highly popular events and music club and has a large young clientele.

Live Music

• Birdland – 3-10-3 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Roppongi Square Building B2. Life Acoustic Jazz and Hawaiian Music.

• El Patio – 7-1-8 Hinode Building, B1, Nishi Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku. Popular for tango, samba, and bossa nova lovers.

External Links

• Frommers List of Nightlife Locations