Tokyo Sake Tour with a Local Guide, Private & Tailored to Your Taste
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From $190.27
5 reviews (4.60)
Price varies by group size
Lowest Price GuaranteePricing Info: Per Person
Duration: 3 hours
Departs: Tokyo, Tokyo
Ticket Type: Mobile or paper ticket accepted
Free cancellation
Overview
You’ll explore Shinjuku with one of our friendly hosts, sampling different varieties of Japanese rice wine - better known as sake! Whether you’d prefer a tiny izakaya (traditional Japanese bar, which actually means ‘stay in sake shop’) or a standing bar (a tachinomiya) where only 10 can squeeze in at a time, the choice is yours! Discover the different temperatures, varieties and ways of enjoying sake with your host!
Within 24 hours after booking you'll receive a short questionnaire about your personality and interests. Based on your responses, you'll be assigned a like-minded host. Your host will communicate with you directly to suggest an itinerary to help you discover what makes the city unique. You'll also agree on a meeting time and place. Your itinerary is flexible, so during the experience, you can always change your mind about what you want to do.
What's Included
3 hours with a city Host
6 sake samples
Hotel meet-up (available on request for central location)
One accompanying dish to share at each bar
Private and personalised experience
Walking experience (if required, your host can suggest public transport or private taxi options)
What's Not Included
Food and drinks other than the ones included in the experience
Gratuities (optional)
Tickets to any attractions
Transportation costs
Traveler Information
- ADULT: Age: 21 - 99
Additional Info
- Face masks required for guides in public areas
- Guides required to regularly wash hands
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Regular temperature checks for staff
- Social distancing enforced throughout experience
- Wheelchair accessible
- City Unscripted and all City Unscripted hosts follow the WHO (World Health Organization) and local government’s health and safety recommendations at all times. To keep up to date with the latest news we recommend visiting these World Health Organization (
- Face masks required for travellers in public areas
- Hand sanitiser available to travellers and staff
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Service animals allowed
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
- For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
- If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
What To Expect
Shinjuku Golden Gai
IMPORTANT: As this is a private and personalised experience, the places you visit may
differ from those listed and these will be chosen by your host based on your interests and preferences
• Admission Ticket Free
IMPORTANT: As this is a private and personalised experience, the places you visit may
differ from those listed and these will be chosen by your host based on your interests and preferences.
• Admission Ticket Free
Omoide Yokocho
IMPORTANT: As this is a private and personalised experience, the places you visit may differ from those listed and these will be chosen by your host based on your interests and preferences
• Admission Ticket Free
Ohsawa Japan Shinjuku
IMPORTANT: As this is a private and personalised experience, the places you visit may differ from those listed and these will be chosen by your host based on your interests and preferences
• Admission Ticket Free
Reviews
Our first stop was at a neighborhood sake bar that frowned upon tourists, but since we were with Sami, we were welcomed. I tried to take a photo, but that is considered very rude and unacceptable – they made sure that I was brought up to speed about the rules quite quickly. Everything was in Japanese, so we are not even sure what the name of this bar was. We liked that there was no seating. Everyone just stood around small tables eating and drinking. We tried both Junmai-shu and Honjozo-shu sakes, both cold sakes. These sakes were served in a chilled glass within a pine box. It is customary to overpour the glass so that it spills into the box – that spilled sake is for drinking as well. In addition, we sampled motsunabe (a tripe stew prepared with a base of soy sauce, garlic, chili pepper or miso, topped with cabbage and chives); chicken yakatori (grilled chicken skewers covered with tare, a sweet soy sauce and mirin mix); tsukune (Japanese chicken meat balls on a skewer, coated with sweet sauce); and fried tofu in a miso glaze.
Our next stop was just down the alley, at a little local joint where we could watch the cooking. They were a little more accepting of tourists and we snapped a few photos. In addition to both a cold sake and a hot sake, we sat on a little picnic table and sampled another array of interesting foods including motsunabe (tripe stew garnished with konjac and tofu); a beautiful tuna tartare ball served with chives and a perilla leaf; hard boiled quail eggs on a skewer; shiro (pig colon seasoned with salt and citrus soy sauce served on a skewer); grilled tan (pork tongue served on a yakatori skewer); and a breaded fish cake. Here, Sami presented me with a beautiful artisanal sake cup for an early birthday present – what a surprise!
Next up was a sake bar specializing in taruzake or cask sake. The sake is stored in a cedar cask to improve the flavor – and it really was quite good. These glasses were served in a natural pine box which added additional flavor as well. Sami continued to order too much food, but she was committed to making sure that we truly got a taste of Japan. At this bar, we sampled kamaboko (a cured, processed seafood product created by forming pureed deboned white fish into loaves, then steaming them until they are firm); motsunabe (tripe stew served with carrots, onions, and chives); a sampling of nigiri sushi including ika (squid), hotate (scallops), and maguro (bluefin tuna); fried saury (Pacific mackerel pike); and korokke (Japanese-style ham and cheese croquettes).
We could absolutely not eat any more food at this stage, a fact that seemed to make Sami a bit sad. However, we were able to stop at one more sake bar to try nigori sake (unfiltered milky sake) and a Sho Chiku Bai Shirakabegura brut sparkling sake. What a fabulous end to a truly incredible three-hour tour!
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