For the first few days of each year, Tokyo is relatively quiet. Businesses are shuttered for the New Year’s holiday, and many of the city’s inhabitants retreat to family homes in the countryside to unwind with loved ones. Neighborhoods that are typically crowded with office workers, such as Yaesu, east of Tokyo Station, become ghost towns. However, it isn’t long before workers return to their daily grinds — and watering holes. In Yaesu, bars are plentiful, including conventional standing bars and traditional izakaya taverns. But I’m not here for the conventional and traditional; I’m looking for Yaesu’s best craft beer bars.
I make my way down drab side streets in the mid-afternoon cold and feel the eyes of distracted salarymen newly returned to work peering down at me from the glass-faced offices. The sky is crystal clear but the bone-cutting wind hurries me into Swan Lake Pub Edo, an outpost for Niigata Prefecture-based Swan Lake Beer with 32 taps featuring Swan Lake brews and guest beers from around Japan.
Unable to view this article?
This could be due to a conflict with your ad-blocking or security software.
Please add japantimes.co.jp and piano.io to your list of allowed sites.
If this does not resolve the issue or you are unable to add the domains to your allowlist, please see out this support page.
We humbly apologize for the inconvenience.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.