Kamiya Bar
神谷バー · Kamiya Bar
- Ward
- Taito
- Price
- ¥1,500~3,000
- Hours
- 11:30-21:00 (L.O.20:30)
- Closed
- Tue
- Getting there
- 1 min walk from Asakusa Stn (3 exit)
- Founded
- 1880
- A shot of Denki Bran neat, immediately chased with draft beer
- The ground floor is pay-first
- Three floors, three different businesses
We do not republish copyrighted photographs. Use the links below to see the actual venue.
Obvious to locals, invisible to visitors
There is a simple reason guidebooks leave this out: to the people who live here it is too obvious to be worth explaining.
A shot of Denki Bran neat, immediately chased with draft beer. The custom started among customers and the bar now advertises it on posters — hence the forest of glasses on every table.
The ground floor is pay-first: buy a ticket at the register by the door, and staff collect it once you sit. When busy, locals grab a seat first, then buy. Second rounds can be ordered from your seat.
Three floors, three different businesses: a working-class bar below, a Western restaurant above, a Japanese kappo on top. Alone? Take the ground floor — shared tables make it easier, and the 1880s social-club air exists only there.
The standard is 30% ABV, the 'Old' version 40%. It goes down sweet but hits like whisky — 'three glasses and you are not getting home' is a standing local joke.
What it is
Taito is a ward the shitamachi ward holding Asakusa and Ueno. Tables sit close enough to overhear every order. If you cannot decide, copying your neighbour is fastest. First time? Order the top item. It is usually what the kitchen has been making longest. Hours go irregular over long holidays; check before setting out. Map apps drift in the narrow lanes; for the last hundred metres, look for the sign instead. Rather than anchoring your itinerary, it slots naturally into the gaps between other stops.
What to order
Why locals keep coming
Turnover is fast — food arrives quickly and twenty minutes is enough from sitting to standing. Most customers live within walking distance. Disappoint them once and they never return — which keeps the floor high.