6 Best Nightlife in Japan

This wood-paneled one-room izakaya pub doesn't look like much, but it regularly fills up with expats and locals. Visitors and regulars sit around the communal tables to swap stories and adventures. Watch out for flying bottle caps, though—the staff have a knack for popping open beer bottles with chopsticks.

Almost every great gay night out begins at this welcoming street-corner pub with a large red shrine gate, where the patrons spill out onto the street. This is the perfect place to put back a few cocktails, meet new people, and get a feeling for where to go next. The crowd is mixed and very foreigner-friendly.

This bar, in business since 1899 and occupying the same stately Chuo-dori location since 1934, is remarkably inexpensive for one of Tokyo's toniest addresses. Ginza shoppers and office workers alike drop by for beer and ballast—anything from Japanese-style fried chicken to spaghetti.

This brewpub serves the best locally made beer in the area, with five year-round brews and the occasional seasonal special on tap. On a chilly day, the 10% ABV Shacho no yoku nomu biiru (literally, "the beer the president often drinks") is guaranteed to warm the bones. They also do beer sampler sets if you want to try their less heady weizen, alt, ale or kolsch. There's basic izakaya fare on the menu, too.

The concrete walls are adorned with rock musicians' autobiographies and posters of the Sex Pistols and Ramones, who also provide the sound track. Artist Yoshitomo Nara has been known to show up here, so if you're lucky, you can drink with him and watch him draw on the walls.

This spacious pub in Ebisu feels more authentically British than many of its rivals, thanks partly to a menu of traditional pub grub, including hearty pies. Using aged logs, the second floor feels like a nice tree house. The place hosts regular live music (funk, folk, jazz, rock, reggae—anything goes here) and other events, so it can be very loud, particularly on Friday and Saturday.