Admittedly, the only reason craft-beer bar Drunk Bat in Mitaka caught my attention was because of its name. For English-speakers, it comes off as amusing; for Japanese speakers with only a few years of compulsory English education under their belt, it can be misheard as "Drug Bad," which leads to some serious misunderstandings.

"I named the bar Drunk Bat because this place looks like a cave," said owner Keisuke Ogasahara, who prefers to go by "Oga."

I had to get him to repeat himself, because at first glance, Drunk Bat, brightly lit with colorful posters on the wall, looks less like a cave and more like — as Oga put it — "a yakitori shop."