Nonbei Yokocho, “Drunkard’s Alley”, is a 1950s row of around forty two-storey bars pressed against the Yamanote tracks a minute from the Scramble Crossing. It is Shibuya’s smaller, older answer to Golden Gai, built when the city cleared the postwar street stalls and gave their owners these tiny plots instead. Each bar is a counter with a master, a few bottles and a theme: whisky, sake, oden, yakitori, or just the owner’s conversation.
Pick a place by looking in; the ones with an open door and a free stool want you. Order a drink and whatever the owner is cooking, then move on to a second bar before the last train. The alley is cold in winter and tight in every season, which is most of its charm.
Tips
- Each bar seats five or six; the upstairs rooms, reached by ladder-steep stairs, are often the only free seats
- Expect a seating charge of around 500 yen that includes a small dish; cash is the rule
- Go on a weeknight; on Fridays the regulars arrive early and stay put