I went to Golden Gai last weekend. To tell the truth, it was first time for me to visit there, though here is getting popular among foreign tourists. Golden Gai is located in hastle-bustle Shinjuku, and more than 250 small bars with seats only 10 or so are packed in narrow area.
We visited “Ace’s” which is run by young owner loves speaking English. At 9pm, 7 customers had already been there. A regular customer who has been coming to Golden Gai over 30 years made a room for us by moving his bag. We ordered DITA with orange and whiskey with soda (800yen each). When we told the owner, “We are beginners of Golden Gai”, he and a regular told us a lot about this area. We gradually became relaxed.
After a while, another regular customer, a senior at an university came in and sat next to us. Our topic was about job hunting. She said “It’s very difficult to get a job because of the economic slump but I want a challenging job”. For most women in Japan, finding jobs with potential is still hard. We talked about problems facing working women and our experience.
Not only the owner but customers are friendly and open-minded, so we enjoyed drinking and chatting very much. In addition, no cover charge here!
Just bars but deep inside. Why not visit Golden Gai? (map)
Here is my own idea for beginners:
1. Visit after 8:30pm.
2. Visit after eating something.
3. If a bar didn’t suit you, don’t worry. Try another one!