Top 6 Places to Explore in Tokyo After Dark
Tokyo’s a fascinating city—from the owl and bunny cafés to the pink-plastered Harajuku girls, there’s always something exciting and oftentimes eccentric to experience. But while Tokyo by day is more temples and zen-like saunters through the park, at night is when the seedy underbelly of the city starts to reveal itself. Here are the best ways to explore this eclectic city after dark.
Alleyway Bar Hopping: Golden Gai
Hidden between the shiny high-rises of Tokyo’s metropolis, yokochos—or old-school alleyways filled with dive bars and eateries—are some of the best places to get a taste of the local cuisine without blowing your budget. These backstreets boast some of the finest street food in Tokyo, and are open well into the night for nocturnal souls and post-party revelers. Rub elbows with Japanese salarymen at Golden Gai, one of the most buzzing yokochos in the city, which boasts more than 200 pubs and drinking dens packed into just a couple of blocks. Each bar has its own unique character and vibe, and you can be sure of finding plenty of cheap sake and beer to wash down plates of yakitori, soba and sushi.
Shinjuku-Sanchome Station, exit B3 or E1. 1 Kabukicho, Shinjuku, Tokyo.
Your Beefcake is Served: Macho Cafe
Labeled “100% Fair Trade Macho” and nicknamed the “reverse Hooters,” Tokyo’s Macho Cafe delivers exactly what it promises: Macho waiters dressed in little white vests with bare chests peeking through. Join the fangirls (or guys) as they woo and scream while waiters crush cans, or empty tubes of whipped cream onto pancakes with a single, manly squeeze.
But the best deals are the “side dishes”: Enjoy a merry-go-round of six packs and triceps with the “Wall of Muscles” ($299), where a tight circle of buff waiters closes in on you while flexing in a ritualistic dance.
Opens sporadically, check machocafe.wixsite.com/macho-cafe for dates. 1/F, J’s Court, Nakano-ku, Nakano, Tokyo, (+81) 3-5778-4958.
