Customer Reviews

Drinking Japan: A Guide to Japan's Best Drinks and Drinking Establishments

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Length:: 2:16 Mins

Thoroughly researched and attractively presented, Drinking Japan provides enough insights into the country's unique bar culture and beverages to establish it as a valuable reference both for newcomers and those more acquainted with the delights of Japanese liquor.
Delving into the history and traditions of the country's various brewed, distilled and fermented beverages, author Chris Bunting also highlights more than 120 standout examples from among Japan's countless superb licensed establishments.
Each chapter focuses on a major drink category - such as whisky, sake, shochu and Okinawan awamori - while listing bars specializing in it, complete with maps and directions from the nearest train stations. (Particularly useful in a country where rail is the primary mode of transport in major cities, and for readers who will likely be in no state to drive if putting the book to good use.)
Bar listings are conveniently arranged by location in the book's front inside cover, while listed alphabetically at the back. The majority of the featured bars are in and around Tokyo, however, there are several write-ups for bars in other areas popular with visitors such as Kyoto, Osaka and Hiroshima.
For visitors with little or no Japanese language ability, a section on useful words and phrases should make the Japanese bar experience much easier to navigate.

Drinking Japan is a tour de force of everything in Japanese drinking. While there are great all Sake (nihonshu) guides out there, Chris Bunting vets everything to drink under the Rising Sun -- and how great it is. Not just a guide book, also a great read on the history of Japanese Sake, Shochu, beer, whisky etc. Even if you never get to Japan (poor you) it's worth a read for all that fascinating background and history.

The guide is spectacular as well. I read it on the plane back from Narita and am dying to go back to check out all the great places Bunting suggests. A bar run by a buddhist priest? Honto. An bar chiseled out of ice in Tokyo? Sugoi. I don't even drink whisky or beer much, preferring Sake and Sochu, but Bunting has wet my appetite to branch out and drink some more in the best place to drink in the world -- Japan. ''''''''''''''''''''''

I dont know how up-to-date the book is.
The history reviews are excellent, filled with unique and colorful details as to the history of drinking culture in Japan, which makes for fascinating reading.
The book then divides a variety of bars in Japan according to their specialties - more often these bars wouldnt be easy to find by a stranger and Ive had several people claim to have been right at the bars' doors and didnt know they had stood right next to an excellent bar, and so missed the opportunity to enter. The division of topics however is a little limited - Sake bars, Shochu bars, awamori. Then whiskies, wines, beers and etc...
As much as selection is an impressive bar quality, there is more to a bar than just a huge selection of brands to choose from and those unique bars with special locales, techniques, bartenders, experties and other unique qualities do not get enough mention in this book, that eventually seems to review the brand-selection in Japan rather than the bars in Japan.