Food and Drink

With the nights drawing in and winter well on its way, what could be better than retreating to this incredibly tiny, but at the same time wonderfully cosy, little Tokyo bar?

For a country obsessed with rules and regulations, Japan is oddly relaxed when it comes to hygiene standards — or at least it is in regards the capital’s countless, and wonderfully comfortable, little bars and eateries. Places where cooking areas often seem as old as the septuagenarians using them, and buckets even make do as a bathrooms. And yet even those elements could arguably be deemed as minor concerns when compared to this lamp. A device that is now almost more artefact than implement.

At the end of a long day, after another long week, post-work beers are always a well-earned treat before the last leg of what could also be a long journey home.

The decor of this old bar in Tokyo’s western suburbs clearly hasn’t changed for decades — if indeed it has ever changed at all.

But then that’s really what gives it such charm.

Along with its friendly regulars, who similarly haven’t changed for some time.

Just like most (or should that be all?) large cities, Tokyo has a seemingly disproportionate number of big chain coffee shops. Places where the drinks are average, the prices high and the atmosphere utterly generic. But fortunately there are alternatives — they just have to be sought out that’s all. And arguably none of them are more worth the effort than the wonderfully old, and truly unique, Lion.

First opened in 1926, it burned down during the war, but in 1950 it was rebuilt in the same location, using the original design. A look and feel that thankfully still remains today. In fact the only changes have been outside the Lion’s doors, as it has now become one of a very rare breed: a meikyoku kissa, or classical music cafe. Somewhere people go to sit silently, sip coffee or tea, and soak up the rich sounds.

An experience that as well as being incredibly soothing, is also about as far as it’s possible to get from those aforementioned modern chains — and indeed the modern world in general.