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Any Personal Bar Recommendations in Golden Gai

Shadowrunner

Shadowrunner

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Recently I've been going to Golden Gai to practice my Japanese, and it's working out pretty good. Any bars there you would personally recommend? My first one was Death Match in Hell but I want to try others.
Also are there any other places in Tokyo like Golden Gai with these small kind of bars in which I can try starting conversations with random strangers? I'm not sure why but I still find Izakaya's intimidating, probably because I can't read the menu most of the time lol.
 
Golden Gai is probably the most foreigner friendly. Sorry I don’t recall any specific places. Usually memory is an issue after. 🥴 But any 横丁 is gonna be similar. Easy to mingle.
 
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Never liked Golden Gai that much because of cover charge without anything worthwhile in return and because it attracts so many tourists.
You can find small bars with just a few seats all over Kabukicho...or in every other part of town. Sure, not in a big cluster but you won't go barhopping anyway if you have to pay extra per place 😑
 
There was a rock bar with really steep stairs that I've been to a couple of times. 70's 80's stuff mostly. got lucky there a couple of times back in the day. Champions I'll go to every now and then......not so much anymore though.
 
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ahhh champs.

Walked by a few weeks ago and it was a shadow of its former self.

Had an appointment to get to otherwise I would have gone so I can finally say I’ve seen the inside.
 
DJPeeps said:
ahhh champs.

Walked by a few weeks ago and it was a shadow of its former self.

Had an appointment to get to otherwise I would have gone so I can finally say I’ve seen the inside.
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A beer and a song is all I ever do if there's some people there. If it's all swinging dicks I spin out the door
 
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just4fun said:
A beer and a song is all I ever do if there's some people there. If it's all swinging dicks I spin out the door
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It was always our “place of last resort”.
After the Gang had been whittled down at all the previous spots, the most debauched of us would end up there, standing outside nursing beers and checking the clock above to make sure we didn’t miss 終電
 
DJPeeps said:
It was always our “place of last resort”.
After the Gang had been whittled down at all the previous spots, the most debauched of us would end up there, standing outside nursing beers and checking the clock above to make sure we didn’t miss 終電
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I've been seeing a couple of touts hanging there this past summer when I was out and about. As you all should know by now.....totally ignore
 
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just4fun said:
I've been seeing a couple of touts hanging there this past summer when I was out and about. As you all should know by now.....totally ignore
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They’ve gotten bold.. or desperate.
Used to get them drift in there every once in a while, but if you’re trolling for punters at a dive that plainly offers One Coin Drinks, you might want to reevaluate your life choices.
 
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DJPeeps said:
It was always our “place of last resort”.
After the Gang had been whittled down at all the previous spots, the most debauched of us would end up there, standing outside nursing beers and checking the clock above to make sure we didn’t miss 終電
Click to expand...
Man, ive only ever been there way after the last train. Fun place when you are drunk enough
 
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Shadowrunner said:
Recently I've been going to Golden Gai to practice my Japanese, and it's working out pretty good. Any bars there you would personally recommend? My first one was Death Match in Hell but I want to try others.
Also are there any other places in Tokyo like Golden Gai with these small kind of bars in which I can try starting conversations with random strangers? I'm not sure why but I still find Izakaya's intimidating, probably because I can't read the menu most of the time lol.
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Goldengai is almost exclusively tourists. Locals dont go there.

Izakayas are not for talking to strangers.

You wanna practice japanese and go to ‘real’ bars, then you’ll need to go somewhere that isnt advertised in Lonely Planet.

Try a local stop on the sky-tree line, or anywhere south of shinagawa on the keihin tohoku line. Thats where you’ll get the real Tokyo. (Not saying other areas arent ‘real’ but these are run-down enough areas that actually have bars where you chat to random people)
 
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Durg50 said:
Goldengai is almost exclusively tourists. Locals dont go there.
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Yep. They completely ruined what used to be a really cool and sedate drinking area. An old girlfriend's sister used to have a bar there, she sold it and moved out because the tourists were so annoying.
 
Durg50 said:
Goldengai is almost exclusively tourists. Locals dont go there.

Izakayas are not for talking to strangers.

You wanna practice japanese and go to ‘real’ bars, then you’ll need to go somewhere that isnt advertised in Lonely Planet.

Try a local stop on the sky-tree line, or anywhere south of shinagawa on the keihin tohoku line. Thats where you’ll get the real Tokyo. (Not saying other areas arent ‘real’ but these are run-down enough areas that actually have bars where you chat to random people)
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Sorry been in Japan for only a few months but what's a 'real bar' here, and how is it different from the bars in Golden Gai(less tourists I assume?).
 
just4fun said:
There was a rock bar with really steep stairs that I've been to a couple of times. 70's 80's stuff mostly. got lucky there a couple of times back in the day. Champions I'll go to every now and then......not so much anymore though.
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It’s amusing how many bars in Japan involve stairs — a potential challenge for drunk customers.
 
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Remember in 1998 when Golden Gai was like Yoshiwara, just a handful of places allowed gaijin and most places only catered to local regulars.
 
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Recently I've been getting free drinks at Golden Gai thanks to tourists. Like every now and then, one's going to enter the bar and buy drinks for everybody. Anyway, can't even imagine what this place or Tokyo was like 20 years ago.
 
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Shadowrunner said:
Recently I've been getting free drinks at Golden Gai thanks to tourists. Like every now and then, one's going to enter the bar and buy drinks for everybody. Anyway, can't even imagine what this place or Tokyo was like 20 years ago.
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I am not so sentimental about things like that...I mean it is the same everywhere around the world.
Some place is cool, becomes popular and is flooded with people who want to experience it...and it loses its spirit in the process. That sucks but it is important for renewal and creation of new trends and locations elsewhere.
 
H2 International Bar next to Yosuya Sanchome

Very chill place, small bar, everyone chats. Run by a black dude, no roofies in my drink though, he was really chill..owner... just chatted a bit. i'm sure lots of japanese go there, you can make friends ez
 
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