Tokimeki Izakaya (in Koenji, Tokyo)

About a 3-minute walk from the North Exit of JR Koenji Station, Tokimeki is an upscale izakaya with a creative menu and a warm atmosphere. Located below street level, it is unlikely to be found randomly.

The concept here is to combine the casual vibe of an izakaya with healthy, innovative, and tasty food. I think they’ve succeeded.

The design of Tokimeki is modern, beautiful, and welcoming. The low lighting and long wood counter surrounding the open-fire grill in the center of the room make quite a statement. If you sit at the counter, you’ll see the chef take a piece of the burning charcoal and hold it inches from the caramel corn (a restaurant specialty and not the kind of caramel corn like Cracker Jack’s) to get the right amount of crispiness. Watching them work is part of the experience.

This is not your typical izakaya.

After being seated, you’ll be asked to choose between a hot or cold oshibori (a towel for your hands). It will be significantly more substantial than your average oshibori.

The otoshi I received was warm grilled tofu in sesame sauce. While I’m a big sesame fan, I’m not big on tofu, but somehow grilled tofu changes everything. This dish was so delicious, that I almost ordered a second one.

The menu, overseen by a Michelin-trained chef, features a variety of fresh fish and vegetables grilled over an open flame, and inventive specials like corn mousse with uni. They also have an excellent drink menu with cocktails, sake, champagne, soju, beer, and natural wine. You can order a set course or a la carte.

I recommend making a reservation as Tokimeki is quite popular. You can reserve a time online via their website. The only issue is the website doesn’t allow making a reservation for one person: only two or more. Your best bet if you’re going alone, is to show up right when they open, explain that the website won’t allow you to book, and you should be ok. At least that’s what I’ve done.

The staff doesn’t speak much English and Tokimeki gets busy, so using a translation app and hand gestures isn’t the best strategy here. There is an English menu, but only online. You access it via a link to the LINE app (another reason to download LINE). Alternatively, you can go to Tokimeki’s regular website and switch the website language to English, Korean, or Chinese (Look on the left towards the bottom of the webpage for those options). The restaurant has free WIFI, so you can do this in whichever fashion you prefer.

Like many popular Japanese restaurants, each seating has a 2-hour time limit with the last order 30 minutes before your 2 hours have expired.

Drinking in Public

Unlike in the USA, drinking in public is legal in Japan. And it’s lovely.

Grabbing a few beers, a bottle of sake, or the ever-present canned cocktails from a local konbini and heading to the park to share them with a friend while catching up and savoring that magical moment when day turns into night is an absolute pleasure.

Meeting up with friends at annual Sakura parties in the park, sharing bottles of wine, sake, soju, or beer, and having a relaxing, festive time outdoors is a time-honored tradition in Japan. And it’s one you should take part in.

If you don’t have friends in Japan yet, pick up your favorite alcohol in a shareable quantity and head to a local park during the weekend or any festive time (Sakura season is particularly good), and you’ll probably make new friends in no time.

Keep in mind that while drinking outdoors in public is a normal thing, it’s poor form to drink to the point of being aggressive or belligerent. And littering is a definite no. 

Otherwise, I encourage you to enjoy a drink in the park.

Japanese Bookstores

If you’re a reader, you will love exploring Japan’s bookstores.

Japanese bookstores are glorious. I previously wrote about Tokyo’s Book Town, Jimbocho, which has many used bookstores. Now I’m talking about Japan’s regular bookstores. 

Japan's big three bookstore chains are Kinokuniya, Tsutaya, and Junkudo.

I’ve mentioned Tsutaya T-Site in Daikanyama, Tokyo (there are many other Tsutaya locations, each with its own charm), and Tsutaya Lounges (great for getting some work done and all over Japan in Tsutaya bookstores) so let’s look at Kinokuniya and Junkudo.

If you go to one of the larger locations of any of these stores, you will be blown away by the vast inventory. I could spend a week in the Kinokuniya Books Shinjuku store (near the Takashimaya Mall). The 6th floor has books in English. There’s a ton of Japanese literature translated into English; you’ll discover numerous great Japanese authors who aren’t as well known in the West and whose works are harder to find in Western bookstores (here are some of my favorites). The Japanese study materials area is expansive. The magazine area is voluminous. The art section is overwhelming. There are simply too many books here. I always need to buy a new suitcase after going here. It’s problematic.

Same for the Junkudo Main store in Ikebukuro. 10 floors of books. The basement is filled with manga and comic books, and every other floor (1-9) has its own focus. Foreign books are on the 6th floor. Japanese language learning materials are on the 8th floor. Of the three big bookstore chains (Kinokuniya, Tsutaya, and Junkudo), Junkudo has the biggest and best language learning section with resources for Japanese learners and other languages. Not only the heavy hitters like Spanish, Chinese, French, German, Italian, English, and Korean are represented, but hard-to-find guides for less common languages like Estonian, Romanian, Urdu, Croatian, Nahuatl, Creole (English and Haitian), and other languages are available as well. This is just one perfect representation of how broad and thorough the selection of books is at these large Japanese bookstores.

Japanese people are readers, and it’s considered perfectly acceptable to grab a book or magazine and read it in the bookstore. There’s even a word for standing and reading, "立ち読み/tachiyomi”. Just don’t unwrap books covered in plastic or that have a rubber band around them. There is usually a specific display copy meant for reading in the store, while the other copies remain in new condition. Junkudo stores often have benches and chairs to sit on as well. Some Tsutaya stores do as well.

Japanese bookstores also have CDs, DVDs, vinyl, headphones, artwork, posters, various collectibles, notebooks, pens, mugs, collaborations with Harry Potter, The Beatles, and The Rolling Stones, as well as manga and anime-related items. They even have pop-up stores. The last time I was at Tsutaya T-Site, they had a New Era baseball hat store popup. Baseball hats, especially Yankees and Dodgers are very trendy in Japan now. The T-Site has all kinds of shopping including foodstuffs and some clothing.

Thank You for Reading!

It’s been almost a year since I started Japan or Die, and I’m thrilled and grateful for your interest. 

This newsletter started as an extension of an email I sent to friends traveling to Japan. Over time, the things I wanted to include expanded beyond what an email could comfortably contain, and this newsletter seemed like the best way to share what I know about Japan. I do my best to write the way I would talk to a friend on a casual hangout over drinks or a leisurely coffee.

For those who’ve written to me, I appreciate your kind and curious emails more than you know. I love hearing from you. It’s been a wonderful surprise that this newsletter has led to several fantastic new friendships in Tokyo and beyond with people I wouldn’t have met otherwise.

I will be taking a few weeks off for the holidays. If you want more Japan information, all 48 newsletters are currently available for free on the website (Just scroll down. They are below the signup page). Also, more photos and recommendations will be coming soon to the Japan or Die Instagram page that won’t all make it into the newsletter.

Before signing off, I have one small favor to ask of you: If you enjoy this newsletter, please share it with someone who has an interest in Japan.

Thanks for your support and see you in the new year.

Algis