Ebisu is a great place to find hoppin’ bars, eateries & even a beer museum.
One of the most fun, authentic and cheap places to get a taste of Tokyo is Ebisu Yokocho, a warren of tiny eateries that winds through a building near the train station. Inside, it feels like time has stood still for over half a century, and you can order up everything from workingman’s hotpot to two-tone “Darktop” draft beer at the little open-fronted restaurants that line the narrow “street.” It’s bright, it’s loud, and most nights it draws a happy eating and drinking crowd.
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Or, if you’re in the mood for something quieter, how about Medusa, where jellyfish and sharks swim lazily in wall-sized tanks? Quiet and dark, it’s a killer date spot.
Or if your taste runs more to history and beer engineering lore, you could do worse than stop in at the Yebisu Beer Museum in Ebisu Garden Place. The ¥500 tour comes with a short walk through the historical photos, a lesson on how to pour the perfect beer, and (best of all) two samples of fine Yebisu wares.
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Looking for a book that will whisk you away to Japan, no matter where you are?
“I feel as if I time traveled to 18th Century Japan. An exhilarating plot and characters that step off the page make this a must-read novel.”
—Terry Shames, Macavity Award-winning author of the Samuel Craddock series
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Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Japan, produces the monthly e-magazine Japanagram, and blogs at Only In Japan and The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had
Jonelle Patrick writes about Japan 