Issue 36: Tokyo after dark
The city changes hands at sunset. Where to be when it does, and what to eat standing up...
Tokyo by day is a working city, efficient and polite. Tokyo by night is a different city that happens to share the same streets.
Golden Gai
Six alleys, two hundred bars, most with six seats. Pick one by its door. If they do not want you, they will say so, and there are a hundred and ninety-nine others.
Standing up
Yakitori under the railway arches at Yurakucho, with the trains going over. Skewers, beer, salarymen, and a bill that comes as a shock in the good direction.
The last train
Midnight-ish, and everyone knows to the minute. Miss it and you are in a manga café until five, which is its own kind of story and not a bad one.
The quiet places
Yes, they exist. A shrine in Shinjuku at two in the morning, lit, empty, ten metres from the loudest street in Japan. Tokyo is very good at doors.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Tokyo expensive at night?
Do I need to speak Japanese?
Is it safe?
One place, every Thursday
The letter, in your inbox, before it is on the site. Nothing else, ever.
Writes Signal from wherever he was last Thursday. Eleven years, sixty countries, one forty-litre bag.
Signal
A weekly travel letter: one place, one week, one opinion.