Higashi-Ueno Sake Tour: A Private Evening of Pairings, Backstreets and Neighborhood Bars
Taste the real Tokyo: an evening of guided sake pairings, intimate bars, and the lantern-lit backstreets of Higashi-Ueno.
Overview
A few minutes from the crowds of Ueno Station, Higashi-Ueno trades the tourist trail for something quieter and more lived-in. Turn off the main avenues and the neighborhood opens into narrow backstreets lined with old shops, izakaya lanterns, and the everyday texture of a Tokyo that most visitors walk straight past. By day it wears the face of a working district of offices and long-established stores; after dark it softens into a residential quarter where the real business is dinner and a good drink.
That double life is exactly why the eating and drinking here is so good. Within a few blocks you will find Japanese izakaya and sushi counters, Italian and Chinese kitchens, Korean and Indian restaurants, and quiet bars, all serving the office workers, residents and few in-the-know travellers who call this corner their own. Your evening begins at 18:30 at the North Exit of Okachimachi Station, where your English-speaking guide meets you and leads you into the neighborhood on foot.
The heart of the night is GASHUE, a small house devoted to Japanese sake. Over the visit you taste four different sake, each paired with a complementary dish and poured into an ochoko chosen by the owner to flatter that particular bottle, while he explains what you are drinking in English. There is time to linger over an extra pour or an a la carte plate, and before you leave, a chance to pull on a brewery happi coat for a photograph.
Along the way your guide walks you through Higashi-Ueno's Koreatown, a community with roots in the years after the Second World War, and the night ends at Bar Najirane, a snug shot bar named after a Niigata greeting. Here the owner, Mr. Murayama, pours from a considered shelf of Japanese and imported whiskies and his home-prefecture sake, and the pace slows to a single, unhurried drink before the tour closes near Ueno Station.
Details
❖ Meet at Okachimachi Station, North Exit
18:30
Your guide is waiting at the North Exit of Okachimachi Station, holding a signboard so you can spot them easily. This is where the evening begins: from the ticket gates you head straight out into the backstreets of Higashi-Ueno on foot.
❖ Higashi-Ueno Koreatown
Before the tastings, your guide walks you through Higashi-Ueno's Koreatown. Its roots reach back to the unsettled years after the Second World War, when many Koreans who chose to stay in Japan settled here, built a community, and opened the food shops and restaurants that still line these lanes. The quarter is also known for its concentration of pachinko businesses: in post-war Japan, opportunities in established industries were often closed to Korean residents, while pachinko had low barriers to entry and offered a route to running one's own business, and many went on to shape the industry. The two threads are not a matter of cause and effect, but their closeness on the same few streets made for a neighborhood of easy exchange. You will not stop to eat here, but because it is such a compact pocket of the city, your guide walks you through it and tells its story along the way.
❖ GASHUE
GASHUE is a small establishment given over to Japanese sake, dedicated to preserving, promoting and moving the culture forward, and to giving its guests a genuinely happy hour or two. The heart of the visit is a set of four sake, each poured to pair with one of four complementary dishes, with the owner explaining each one in English as you go. For every sake he chooses a different ochoko, the small cup best suited to that bottle, so you notice not only how the flavours evolve but how the sake looks in the glass. If you would like to go further, additional pours and a la carte dishes are available for an extra charge. Before you leave, you can pull on a brewery happi coat for a commemorative photo. Address: 2-13-5 Higashi-Ueno, Taito-ku, Tokyo.
❖ Bar Najirane
The night winds down at Bar Najirane, a small shot bar tucked into a quiet corner of Higashi-Ueno. Its name comes from a Niigata dialect greeting, roughly "how's it going?", a nod to owner and bartender Mr. Murayama and his home prefecture. The room is snug and calm, the kind of place made for setting the day down, and Mr. Murayama pours from a carefully kept selection that runs from Japanese and international whiskies to sake from his native Niigata. Your one included drink here is meant to be lingered over. Address: UENO BLDG. 101, 3-14-12 Higashi-Ueno, Taito-ku, Tokyo. Hours: 19:00 to 3:00.
❖ End at Ueno Station
21:30
The tour comes to a close at around 21:30 near Ueno Station, leaving you well placed for the train back or another drink if the evening has put you in the mood.
OPTIONS
Notes
This experience is built around sake tastings and a bar visit. Guests must be of legal drinking age in Japan, which is 20 and over, to take part in the tastings.
Beyond the four sake and one bar drink that are included, additional pours and a la carte dishes at GASHUE are available for an extra charge.
Please arrive a few minutes before the 18:30 start at the North Exit of Okachimachi Station, where your guide will be waiting with a signboard.
The tour does not run on Sundays or on the day before a Japanese national holiday.
Meeting Point
Okachimachi Station, North Exit
Your guide will be waiting just outside the North Exit ticket gates with a signboard.
What's included:
A course of four dishes paired with four sake at GASHUE
One drink at Bar Najirane
English-speaking guide
Photos of tour participants
Local tax
What's not included:
Hotel pick-up and drop-off
Free cancellation up to 8 days before the experience starts (local time)
Private experience
2
-
4
Participants
Tokyo
From ¥22,000 /person
3 hours
Traveler Photos
From ¥22,000 /person
3 hours
Tokyo