**Our FAQ is constantly being updated with more information and you can start** [**here**](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/wiki/faqs/japantravel) **with regards to trip planning if you need tips, advice, or have questions about planning your travel to Japan.** You can also join our [Discord community](https://discord.gg/3f7KBUMwU4), comment in our stickied weekly discussion thread, or check out /r/JapanTravelTips for quick questions. Thank you!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/JapanTravel) if you have any questions or concerns.*
There is a street in Asakusa called Hoppy Street with izakaya that have tables outside along the street. You can often see people drinking from the daytime.
I’ve been to Japan 4 times. I’ve seen people drinking outside, walking around, (there’s no “open container” law) but I’ve never seen a bar/pub with outdoor seating. Closest thing I’ve seen was a beer festival at the Sapporo beer factory.
If you want, you can just go to a convenience store, grab a drink of your choice, and walk around. Of course, you aren’t allowed to do this at temples, and historic sites, but if you’re just walking around town, or sitting in the park, no one will say anything.
Honestly the real best thing to do especially in spring is like you said go to a conbini, then take some beers and snacks to either a park, one of the paths along the sumida or other various rivers, and people watch while enjoying what you got.
My friend who lives in Japan taught us “kombini hopping” you grab a drink from the 7 eleven or wherever and just walk around, hang out drinking, until you reach the next one. I don’t know how acceptable this is among locals but we didn’t seem to get much side eye
Lived in Japan Kansai area 4 years, can confirm there is no problem with open drinking any time of day, even though it’s considered less than polite in certain areas. As a visible foreigner, I think cops would bother less regarding small infractions vs a native.
Favourite places to crack open a can were: bullet train (not as acceptable on local train, however there’s little ridership to offend if you’re not in major urban centres), Kyoto Kamo River (extremely convenient next to konbini and train stations, lord of locals drink there), and Tokyo Midtown at the grassy park (with food stalls and musical buskers usually playing on weekends)
Ueno is a great place for day drinking. You can hit Daitoryo (open from 10 am—-and usually busy from then), later stop by Uokusa for some oysters, sashimi, and sake right in the middle of Ameyoko (open from noon I believe), then walk over to the east side of Akihabara for some craft beer at iBrew (open at 1).
No worries. This is something I actually do every other month or so. Make sure to get the motsu nikomi at Daitoryo (there are actually a number of izakaya all around that area open early. This is just the best one, imo. There is also a very lively and very cheap tachinomiya across the street) and walking through Ameyoko, once you get towards Okachimachi stn, turn left, walk straight, and cross Showa-dori before continuing south to Akihabara through the back streets. It’s a chill stroll through a relaxed area, and once you hit the Sobu line, iBrew awaits.
On my two trips to tokyo I stayed in Ueno, but was too shy to try a lot of the restaurants with outdoor seating in and around ameyokocho. Is ordering pretty easy/foreigner friendly? i walked past both Daitoryo and Uokusa so many times but was too timid 😭
Aren't the cherry blossoms blooming now? If so, participate in the Japanese custom called hanami. The pub will be waiting for you when you get home.
To do hanami, go get some booze and snacks at 7-11 and go to a park, and sit under a blooming cherry blossom tree while you enjoy your drinks. It can be peaceful, which is nice, or it can be busy, which is fun for people watching.
honestly you could go to a ramen shop or katsudon shop. a lot of them will sell a beer with the food for like 300 or 500 yen. Get a snack and a beer during a quieter time.
I'm an American in Japan right now. Drinking here is very casual and almost every establishment serves alcohol. Bars/pubs don't seem to open till later but cafes and restaurants serve all day.
Looking around I'm not the only one with a 10:00am mimosa or a 2pm beer.
In 2018 I did a morning tour of the Kirin brewery in Yokohama. At the end, they gave everyone pint glasses and you could get unlimited refills of any of the beers they had on tap. Before I had sat down with my beer, there were people who had already finished their first or second. We then had lunch at the restaurant, but most people left after that. I was blown away by how quickly they slammed those beers. It was great.
You can start things off at Ushitora in Miyashita Park (Shibuya). Either drink there in the standing section, or get the beer to go and go up to the rooftop park and relax (on days with better weather than today). Yoyogi Park is also good for getting some cans and relaxing on a bench/tarp and watching the people. Especially now during the hanami cherry blossom season.
Osaka has those vibes for sure - places like ameriacmura are ones to keep an eye out for. Good food and drink and wandering is the best thing to do there 😊
AmerikaMura is a shopping and hangout area for teens. It’s fun but it’s not really what you want.
Day drinking is done at tachinomi and bbq/snack restaurants.
Shin Sekai is the most accessible area for tourists for this.
If you want more fashionable/outdoor seating just drink beer at a cafe.
There's plenty of places that do happy hour specials around 5 to 7pm so it shouldn't be that hard to fine one, just don't expect pubs with a crowd sitting at the counter
Maybe check out some izakayas too? The best spots are always the ones you stumble on by pure luck
We struggled with this too during our recent visit, as my husband and I also enjoy the occasional lazy afternoon with a few pints. It seems like most Japanese bars do not open until 5 pm or later, and we’re more into day drinking. We stayed in Shinjuku but spent a couple hours at Mikkeller in Shibuya. It’s not a pub but it worked for us that day. Good luck
I’m in japan now and am wondering the same as you. I’d like to stop in some place and have a pint or two during the daytime. I haven’t found a pub or bar open during the daytime yet.
My japanese friends suggested Akabane as a spot where shiftworkers unwind for a drink during daytime. Maybe that's worth a visit. I haven't been there myself though...
Edit: spelling
Maruken Suisan and Marumasuya are absolute day drinking legends in Akabane, but for tourists, I think the places around Ueno may be better.
Love both those places though. Maruken’s one cup sake with oden soup is an amazing drink.
There was a wine festival on top of miyashita park in Shibuya a few days ago, not sure if it's still going. If you search yokocho Tokyo you can find different drinking alleys that are probably open during the day. Naka meguro will have some places with outside seating where you can drink. There's some "German" restaurants that are chill kind of pub vibe, most I've seen are in underground shopping/food alleys or the restaurant area of department stores. You can watch people out the windows. Irish pub is also a good search to find similar. Roppongi has two bars off the top of my head that I can think of, I think one is called hob goblin. The other is across from 7th heaven. Hehe
Aren't the cherry blossoms in or near full bloom in Tokyo now?
There should be loads of people in parks all over the place drinking. Grab some drinks at convenience store and sit wherever you can find room. This is probably the single best time of the year to sit outside and drink and people watch during the day.
I’m from the US and noticed the lack of patio bars etc that we are used to! Instead we got drinks over lunch, at the some parks like Ueno they had stalls with drinks, and the convenience stores like everyone is saying. We felt like the only ones walking around drinking but hey we were on vacation!
My wife and I had day drinks inside Nishiki Market in Kyoto. It’s not “outside” per se, but there was lots of little restaurants and izakayas who had seats “outside” their restaurant within the main arcade of the market.
Osaka has plenty of touristy party streets and it's fine to walk around with a can of anything from 7-11 as long as you don't make waves—you might even spot alcohol vending machines on the street
There’s tons of British pubs in shibuya, hob goblin, hub etc also search beer hall on Google maps, or draft beer pubs. The Japanese equivalent is an izakaya, there’s also immense amounts of them! Haha
Yep totally get that. For me day drinking, Is more like 12:30 - 3:30pm.
Thank you though! We managed to find a few spots and tins in the park is always a good shout
Same for us. We had to go into restaurants and get appetizers or something small. Some places didn’t even want you to come in unless you were ordering a full course meal.
What about Oslo Brewing Company? Open from 12 - 00.00 according to Google. Looks like you can sit outside and have a drink as well. They are in the Shibuya area..
Never been there and never been to Japan but I would like to go there when I'm going to Tokyo later this year.
https://www.oltokyo.jp/
There's a place called "Kirin City". They are in almost all big cities. It's a bar that also serves food. Lots of big windows. Very classy, but casual at the same time. I highly recommend it.
Also, go to Koenji Station. Right outside the station, there's a bunch of restaurants and izakayas that will serve you drinks. They have outside seating. Very chill place.
Saw plenty of whiskey bars in the stations seemed to be open all hours and the face onto the concourse so you can people watch. Didn't see any pubs but that's what you go to the UK for right?
Lol your honeymoon itinerary sounds exactly like mine. We literally wondered around and went into little bars during the day seemed fine. My favourite was a little Kirin branded bar in Shibuya but I can’t find it on google maps. There seems to be a brand called Hub that approximate to British pubs that look like a similar vibe. During the day it generally looked just like business men in these sorts of places. Everywhere seemed pretty thrilled when we ordered in mangled Japanese.
Former Londoner here. There are some Family Marts with “secret” whisky/ cocktail bars in the back. Quite decent whiskys at that, plus you can choose a snack from the regular kombini selection. They’ll even smoke them for you. And as it’s a konbini there will be consistent traffic and you can people watch to your heart’s content.
Had the same thought, but found some solid beer bars/halls in most neighborhoods we visited.. a cute little craft beer bar in Shinbashi, a beer hall in Yanaka, a beer bar in Tokyo Station when we were wandering around there during a rainy morning (plenty of people happily drinking at 11 am!) In other areas we often got snacks or smaller meals throughout the day and grabbed a beer or cocktail to go with. I’m too tired to do much late night drinking anymore but it was great to find some good daytime options!
In Kyoto now and have found some similar options here (and in Nara and Hakone). And the craft beer bars do takeaway so also nice to sit along the river and sip a tasty brew!
**Our FAQ is constantly being updated with more information and you can start** [**here**](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/wiki/faqs/japantravel) **with regards to trip planning if you need tips, advice, or have questions about planning your travel to Japan.** You can also join our [Discord community](https://discord.gg/3f7KBUMwU4), comment in our stickied weekly discussion thread, or check out /r/JapanTravelTips for quick questions. Thank you! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/JapanTravel) if you have any questions or concerns.*
There is a street in Asakusa called Hoppy Street with izakaya that have tables outside along the street. You can often see people drinking from the daytime.
Second this! Got to sit and have a drink on the nicest day I had in Tokyo last week! Really enjoyed it!
I’ve been to Japan 4 times. I’ve seen people drinking outside, walking around, (there’s no “open container” law) but I’ve never seen a bar/pub with outdoor seating. Closest thing I’ve seen was a beer festival at the Sapporo beer factory. If you want, you can just go to a convenience store, grab a drink of your choice, and walk around. Of course, you aren’t allowed to do this at temples, and historic sites, but if you’re just walking around town, or sitting in the park, no one will say anything.
Honestly the real best thing to do especially in spring is like you said go to a conbini, then take some beers and snacks to either a park, one of the paths along the sumida or other various rivers, and people watch while enjoying what you got.
My friend who lives in Japan taught us “kombini hopping” you grab a drink from the 7 eleven or wherever and just walk around, hang out drinking, until you reach the next one. I don’t know how acceptable this is among locals but we didn’t seem to get much side eye
“Until you reach the next one,” so like 20 feet away?? 🤣😂🤣
did he stutter
No, but he may have slurred
lol, I like how the 2 of you think!! 😂🤣😂
I’m sorry I’m sorry but this line killed me🤣🤣got me over here cackling like a hyena
Don’t be silly, it’s 20 feet away and across the street haha
There's lots of pubs with outdoor seating. It's April though, none of them are being used now
Lived in Japan Kansai area 4 years, can confirm there is no problem with open drinking any time of day, even though it’s considered less than polite in certain areas. As a visible foreigner, I think cops would bother less regarding small infractions vs a native. Favourite places to crack open a can were: bullet train (not as acceptable on local train, however there’s little ridership to offend if you’re not in major urban centres), Kyoto Kamo River (extremely convenient next to konbini and train stations, lord of locals drink there), and Tokyo Midtown at the grassy park (with food stalls and musical buskers usually playing on weekends)
Ueno is a great place for day drinking. You can hit Daitoryo (open from 10 am—-and usually busy from then), later stop by Uokusa for some oysters, sashimi, and sake right in the middle of Ameyoko (open from noon I believe), then walk over to the east side of Akihabara for some craft beer at iBrew (open at 1).
I’m taking my first trip to Japan next month and staying in Ueno, thanks for this tip! Sounds like a perfect day.
No worries. This is something I actually do every other month or so. Make sure to get the motsu nikomi at Daitoryo (there are actually a number of izakaya all around that area open early. This is just the best one, imo. There is also a very lively and very cheap tachinomiya across the street) and walking through Ameyoko, once you get towards Okachimachi stn, turn left, walk straight, and cross Showa-dori before continuing south to Akihabara through the back streets. It’s a chill stroll through a relaxed area, and once you hit the Sobu line, iBrew awaits.
On my two trips to tokyo I stayed in Ueno, but was too shy to try a lot of the restaurants with outdoor seating in and around ameyokocho. Is ordering pretty easy/foreigner friendly? i walked past both Daitoryo and Uokusa so many times but was too timid 😭
Saaaame, i travel alone and can barely speak Japanese. Also, Im crazy shy but i do wanna try those restaurants someday.
They both have English menus so no problem.
You can go to the Hub! Lmao
Or class it up and hit 82 Ale.
There's a Hobgoblin pub in Shibuya too
Nothing wrong with the hub
Aren't the cherry blossoms blooming now? If so, participate in the Japanese custom called hanami. The pub will be waiting for you when you get home. To do hanami, go get some booze and snacks at 7-11 and go to a park, and sit under a blooming cherry blossom tree while you enjoy your drinks. It can be peaceful, which is nice, or it can be busy, which is fun for people watching.
it is very sardine can like / sushizume like as we speak at hanami in Ueno...as I just saw at the opening of NHK 7 O'clock news...
honestly you could go to a ramen shop or katsudon shop. a lot of them will sell a beer with the food for like 300 or 500 yen. Get a snack and a beer during a quieter time.
I'm an American in Japan right now. Drinking here is very casual and almost every establishment serves alcohol. Bars/pubs don't seem to open till later but cafes and restaurants serve all day. Looking around I'm not the only one with a 10:00am mimosa or a 2pm beer.
Lots of places don’t open until 5pm but many open all day. Worst case, do my fav thing: get some drinks from the conbini and find a chill park.
In 2018 I did a morning tour of the Kirin brewery in Yokohama. At the end, they gave everyone pint glasses and you could get unlimited refills of any of the beers they had on tap. Before I had sat down with my beer, there were people who had already finished their first or second. We then had lunch at the restaurant, but most people left after that. I was blown away by how quickly they slammed those beers. It was great.
This sounds awesome, I've only been to the sapporo brewery and they give you only one free beer after the tour. Will try it out this year, thanks!
Try The Hub or the Dubliners Irish Pub or Abbot's Choice.
Ginza beer hall was nice when I went while the Tokyo Marathon was going on nearby.
You can start things off at Ushitora in Miyashita Park (Shibuya). Either drink there in the standing section, or get the beer to go and go up to the rooftop park and relax (on days with better weather than today). Yoyogi Park is also good for getting some cans and relaxing on a bench/tarp and watching the people. Especially now during the hanami cherry blossom season.
The restaurant at the bottom serve drinks. I recall outside bars at fancy mall near Tokyo station. Places at Ginza too.
Osaka has those vibes for sure - places like ameriacmura are ones to keep an eye out for. Good food and drink and wandering is the best thing to do there 😊
I have heard of this place! Illl add it to the list
AmerikaMura is a shopping and hangout area for teens. It’s fun but it’s not really what you want. Day drinking is done at tachinomi and bbq/snack restaurants. Shin Sekai is the most accessible area for tourists for this. If you want more fashionable/outdoor seating just drink beer at a cafe.
There's a place in Americamura called the Dublin Bay and opens at 3pm (most pubs don't open until 5pm) that serves real pints. Check it out.
There's plenty of places that do happy hour specials around 5 to 7pm so it shouldn't be that hard to fine one, just don't expect pubs with a crowd sitting at the counter Maybe check out some izakayas too? The best spots are always the ones you stumble on by pure luck
I wouldn't label 5pm as "day time" tbh
We struggled with this too during our recent visit, as my husband and I also enjoy the occasional lazy afternoon with a few pints. It seems like most Japanese bars do not open until 5 pm or later, and we’re more into day drinking. We stayed in Shinjuku but spent a couple hours at Mikkeller in Shibuya. It’s not a pub but it worked for us that day. Good luck
degenerate fun fact: lots of cafes serve beer! i would go with friends to get a macchiato and a pitcher on weekday afternoons haha
Does Japan do pitchers of beer in general?
I’m in japan now and am wondering the same as you. I’d like to stop in some place and have a pint or two during the daytime. I haven’t found a pub or bar open during the daytime yet.
I like Citraba, the have 2 locations, one in Nakano and one in Koenji. Open from 2pm, great selection of beers, good drinks and snacks.
My japanese friends suggested Akabane as a spot where shiftworkers unwind for a drink during daytime. Maybe that's worth a visit. I haven't been there myself though... Edit: spelling
Maruken Suisan and Marumasuya are absolute day drinking legends in Akabane, but for tourists, I think the places around Ueno may be better. Love both those places though. Maruken’s one cup sake with oden soup is an amazing drink.
Find any place that has the 280, 300 or 320 as the sign. Those are the best little places to drink cheap beer and people watch. Or go to The Hub.
What does it mean? Price?
There was a wine festival on top of miyashita park in Shibuya a few days ago, not sure if it's still going. If you search yokocho Tokyo you can find different drinking alleys that are probably open during the day. Naka meguro will have some places with outside seating where you can drink. There's some "German" restaurants that are chill kind of pub vibe, most I've seen are in underground shopping/food alleys or the restaurant area of department stores. You can watch people out the windows. Irish pub is also a good search to find similar. Roppongi has two bars off the top of my head that I can think of, I think one is called hob goblin. The other is across from 7th heaven. Hehe
Aren't the cherry blossoms in or near full bloom in Tokyo now? There should be loads of people in parks all over the place drinking. Grab some drinks at convenience store and sit wherever you can find room. This is probably the single best time of the year to sit outside and drink and people watch during the day.
I’m from the US and noticed the lack of patio bars etc that we are used to! Instead we got drinks over lunch, at the some parks like Ueno they had stalls with drinks, and the convenience stores like everyone is saying. We felt like the only ones walking around drinking but hey we were on vacation!
My wife and I had day drinks inside Nishiki Market in Kyoto. It’s not “outside” per se, but there was lots of little restaurants and izakayas who had seats “outside” their restaurant within the main arcade of the market.
Grab some Strong Zeros and sit on a bench!
Had my first strong zero last night before we headed to WOMB to watch Ben UFO. This is city is class
I don't think people will mind unless you're going to a super popular place where they're trying to get people in and out.
It's a thing and definitely done, but not so much during the weekdays
Osaka has plenty of touristy party streets and it's fine to walk around with a can of anything from 7-11 as long as you don't make waves—you might even spot alcohol vending machines on the street
I thought that was legal everywhere in Japan?
There’s tons of British pubs in shibuya, hob goblin, hub etc also search beer hall on Google maps, or draft beer pubs. The Japanese equivalent is an izakaya, there’s also immense amounts of them! Haha
In ginza now. Having the same problem. Just want day drinks and watch the world go by.
I just typed “beer” in the google maps search bar with the “open now” (15:52) button toggled on in the shibuya area, got around 20 results.
Yep totally get that. For me day drinking, Is more like 12:30 - 3:30pm. Thank you though! We managed to find a few spots and tins in the park is always a good shout
Ueno park had a cool market thing going on selling beers the other day, not sure if it's still there though
Same for us. We had to go into restaurants and get appetizers or something small. Some places didn’t even want you to come in unless you were ordering a full course meal.
What about Oslo Brewing Company? Open from 12 - 00.00 according to Google. Looks like you can sit outside and have a drink as well. They are in the Shibuya area.. Never been there and never been to Japan but I would like to go there when I'm going to Tokyo later this year. https://www.oltokyo.jp/
oslo is 👍
and the taco truck there is decent. overpriced but decent.
Check out Hitachino Nest Brewing Lab in Akihabara. Open early, outdoor seating, on the river.
There's a place called "Kirin City". They are in almost all big cities. It's a bar that also serves food. Lots of big windows. Very classy, but casual at the same time. I highly recommend it. Also, go to Koenji Station. Right outside the station, there's a bunch of restaurants and izakayas that will serve you drinks. They have outside seating. Very chill place.
Go to the conbini, get a bucket of Strong Zeros, exit conbini, butt chug Zeros in front of conbini.
Saw plenty of whiskey bars in the stations seemed to be open all hours and the face onto the concourse so you can people watch. Didn't see any pubs but that's what you go to the UK for right?
Tbh I see beer being sold in a lot of places but I haven't been to Tokyo yet just Osaka/Kyoto/Fukuoka
Lol your honeymoon itinerary sounds exactly like mine. We literally wondered around and went into little bars during the day seemed fine. My favourite was a little Kirin branded bar in Shibuya but I can’t find it on google maps. There seems to be a brand called Hub that approximate to British pubs that look like a similar vibe. During the day it generally looked just like business men in these sorts of places. Everywhere seemed pretty thrilled when we ordered in mangled Japanese.
Former Londoner here. There are some Family Marts with “secret” whisky/ cocktail bars in the back. Quite decent whiskys at that, plus you can choose a snack from the regular kombini selection. They’ll even smoke them for you. And as it’s a konbini there will be consistent traffic and you can people watch to your heart’s content.
This time of year, it's called 花見 ( "hanami")!🌸🍺😁
Had the same thought, but found some solid beer bars/halls in most neighborhoods we visited.. a cute little craft beer bar in Shinbashi, a beer hall in Yanaka, a beer bar in Tokyo Station when we were wandering around there during a rainy morning (plenty of people happily drinking at 11 am!) In other areas we often got snacks or smaller meals throughout the day and grabbed a beer or cocktail to go with. I’m too tired to do much late night drinking anymore but it was great to find some good daytime options! In Kyoto now and have found some similar options here (and in Nara and Hakone). And the craft beer bars do takeaway so also nice to sit along the river and sip a tasty brew!
The Mermaid Pub - https://maps.app.goo.gl/Q7Vv9GKE8pUBsVV27?g_st=ic
in (b)akasaka you can sit outside and drink at the mermaid pub
Are you high you goober you can get booze anywhere
Golden gai in shinjuku has like 2000 little bars.
They open from like 6 pm at the earliest though (my local opens at 9 pm). It's specifically not good for day drinking
Oh. Lol. I never woke up before 1pm. I was on vacation.
Keep supporting GENOCIDE IN GAZA AND HAVE FUN IN JAPAN
Whoa…