Tokyo Travel Forum

I'm going to Japan for the first time this fall, I plan on staying in Tokyo for 5 days. Just wondering if anyone can recommend any good drinking holes one could visit alone and not feel like a total weirdo. I don't plan on totally avoiding the touristy bars but I do plan on hopefully spending some time rubbing elbows with the locals and getting to know the culture better.

Tokyo is the best place to drink at a bar alone, but you will never be alone. Part of Japanese drinking culture is to have your own hole in the wall bar that you retreat to to get away from it all, a place where you go to be alone. There are a hundred thousand such establishments, that's a modest figure, I'm sure even more than that. The bartenders are extremely professional, best in the world...

If I tell you some of my favorite spots, don't tell anyone else. LOL...

* Goruden Gai, Shinjuku - note the warren of small alleys to the right of the letter "F".
http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=shinjuku+tokyo+japan&ie=UTF8&ll=35.694032,139.704616&spn=0.005934,0.011576&z=17

* *** (the board edited my colourful word for urine) Alley, Shibuya - Just to the right of the rail tracks you will see a some narrow alleys in the centre of the map. You have to walk under the tracks and then take an immdiate left to enter this alcohol soaked region.
http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=shibuya+tokyo+japan&ie=UTF8&ll=35.659855,139.701505&spn=0.002968,0.005788&z=18

* Under the Tracks, Yurakucho - Go to Yurakucho station and wander the tracks at street level in both directions. As you go towards Tokyo station the establishments are more sophisticated, less so as you head to Shimbashi.
http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=yurakucho+tokyo+japan&ie=UTF8&ll=35.673875,139.762133&spn=0.005935,0.011576&z=17

Oh, I'm not mentioning any bar by name, you just head to that area and take you pick.