Kagurazaka, a nostalgic but stylish town in Tokyo.

Kagurazaka is a town for adults who want to spend quality time with their loved ones. The atmosphere on the backstreet of Kagurazaka takes us back to a nostalgic, old-fashioned scene but also gives us a feeling of somehow stylish Tokyo.

It is located just outside the moat of the former Edo castle, so it developed as a craftsman’s town where blacksmiths, swordsmiths, furniture workers, etc., had their shops to serve samurais. It has been transformed into a gorgeous traditional restaurant town where Geisha entertains guests. Businesspeople and politicians also use the restaurants to have negotiations behind closed doors.

On a Friday night, I was guided by a gentleman who has lived in the Kagurazaka area for about 50 years. His first choice for me was Kado, where we enjoyed beer and tsumami, a small dish like Japanese tapas. The restaurant uses an old house that was renovated into two parts: a standing bar, where we visited, and traditional Japanese-style rooms, where guests sit on the tatami floor, which is a Japanese mat floor made of rush grass.

I ordered a glass of beer and a tsumami, smoked mackerel, at the window at the end of the bar house, which is 400 yen each. It’s quite reasonable, isn’t it? The bar is so small, accommodating only eight guests at a time. We were so lucky to find a corner for three, and two guests who came in after us had no choice but to return to the street to find the other bar.

Next to the bar is the dining room, where you can sit on the tatami floor. Unfortunately, I did not have a chance to enjoy dinner in the room because all the tables were fully booked. So, I took a photo of the room only from outside. I will make a reservation and return with my friends on a summer weekend.

Please check the pictures of tsumami on its Instagram below.
https://www.instagram.com/kadokagurazaka?igsh=MWp0aWxiZGMzenVsMA==

The next spot is a Kaku-uchi bar, Bocchriya. Kaku-uchi is one of the traditional Japanese bar styles that allows customers to choose their favorite sake, Japanese rice wine, from a refrigerator filled with various sake bottles. Bocchiriya serves sake and tsumami only from Kochi prefecture, the south area of Shikoku Island. Bocchiri is a dialect of Kochi, meaning “Just nice,” it offers about 180 ml of sake in a small glass, a “just nice” size for tasting different sake brands.

I asked a shop staff member to offer me dry sake, and Tsukasa Botan, a blue bottle on the left, was served into my glass at the counter. My friend chose Natsu Jungin, Nigori sake, or cloudy sake, which is brewed without filtration so you can see fine white suspensions in the bottle. Both were so nice for an early summer evening in Japan.

The last stop was Kagurazaka Saryo, a Japanese tea house and restaurant that offered 12 small dishes with steamed rice colored and flavored with red beans and miso soup. All the dishes have gentle and lightly salted tastes, which is healthy for senior adults, like me, who have become hesitant to eat heavy meals. Also, it was suitable for my stomach, which was tired of stress from work. I drank Ryokucha-High, which was shochu, a Japanese spirit, blended with iced green tea as a finisher of our tour. It was a great evening to explore the old town of Kagurazaka.

On our tour course in the Kagurazaka area, we passed by many attractive restaurants and bars. Since we did not have enough time to visit them, I have included some photos of them so you can understand how the town and streets there have excellent vibes.

I will definitely come back to Kagurazaka to visit the rest of the restaurants and bars someday in the summer. If you want to join me, don’t hesitate to get in touch with me via the “Contact me” box below.

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Sunday, October 1, 2023

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