One of my favorite ways to explore a neighborhood is by booking a local tour. After arriving in Tokyo, we knew we wanted to spend time in the Shibuya neighborhood and opted to book this small group bar hopping tour through which included food and drinks at three Izakaya bars. Shockingly, we were the only two people to book the tour that evening in January and ended up with more of a private tour with our guide.
The tour was laid back and a lot of fun. We learned so much from our guide, a 22 year old college student who talked with us about everything from rent prices in the neighborhood to wearing face masks for fashion (apparently wearing a black face mask makes your face look slimmer!). She graciously took photos of us at each stop and also walked us around to some of the famous locations in the neighborhood, including Shibuya Crossing and the bronze statue honoring Hachiko, the famously loyal Akita dog. I’ll be honest though, I didn’t know anything about this dog nor do I remember the story now – ha! The whole tour felt like we were hanging out with a friend for the evening, which can be a nice change of pace when you’re traveling alone or with one other person for an extended period of time.
With three stops throughout the evening, we enjoyed a local beer, a glass of wine and some sake. We noticed at one bar advertisements for a snake wine called Habushu – a snake-infused whiskey with an actual pit viper in the bottle – and knew we had to try it. We ordered three shots of the unique liquor and cheered “kanpai” as we tossed it back. Supposedly the alcohol removes the poisonous snake venom rendering it safe to drink. Thankfully I’m still alive to tell the tale.
Another favorite moment from the tour was tasting the wagyu beef. Oh my goodness! I could have consumed several more of these delicious flavor bombs. The beef was tender, perfectly seasoned, served on a glob of rice, and “cooked” at the table. It was among the most incredible foods I ate the entire trip. I still dream about it now.
After the tour, we stopped for pizza (yep, in Japan!) at a nearby shop, which was amazing, and popped around to a few other bars nearby. Tokyo has recently received a lot of recognition for having some of the best Neapolitan-style pizza in the world and I was not disappointed. I’m not sure there’s anything in Japan that they don’t do well…The neighborhood was vibrant and busy with noticeably more locals than tourists on this particular Friday night, another great sign, in my opinion. I highly recommend this tour as it was a great way to get a feel for the local neighborhood scene.
ALI IN OZ 