Gaijin Tonic

Yay! Summer is here.
This means that, although I frequently get so sunburned I look like a spit-roasted pig and I wake up every day on a futon so with soaked with sweat that you could sautee it, I can also spend the next few weeks hitting the beach bars and rooftop beer gardens of Japan.
On Saturday I went to Kudan Kaikan, which is a large beer garden on the roof of a building near Kudanshita subway station, with a nice view of Kitanomaru park. But who cares about that when you can drink as much as you like in 90 minutes for 2100 yen, and get served by girls dressed as Playboy bunnies?
Kudan Kaikan closes early, at about ten, but a bit of cheap, al-fresco drinking is a fine way to start an evening before heading elsewhere. The food is expensive and not that special, though, so I’d recommend eating before or after you go there.

I’m also looking forward to hitting the beach bars of the Shonan area of Kanagawa, around Enoshima, Zushi and Kamamkura.
Many of my female friends hate these beaches because they are dirty, cluttered with gaudy wooden beach bars, and overcrowded with drunk university students in swimwear, setting off fireworks. I, on the other hand, like these beaches because they are dirty, cluttered with gaudy wooden beach bars, and overcrowded with drunk university students in swimwear, setting off fireworks. Quite what the beach bunnies make of the pale, bloated, priapic 31 year old foreigner in their midst, I don’t know, but I’m not complaining about a place where I can drink Corona in the company of girls dressed only in bikinis, high heels and cowboy hats.

Read more about beach bars.

Read more about beer gardens.

Kudan Kaikan Beer Garden
1-6 Kudan Minami, Chiyoda-ku
Tel: (03) 3261-5521
Kudanshita Station, Exit 4
Open daily from 17:00-22:00