Golden Week has come to an end, and bleary-eyed, sunburned Japanese workers are trudging back to work (mercifully only for two days until the weekend.) If, like me, the Golden Week festivities have left you broke, you’re going to need somewhere cheap to drink until the next payday.
Mari of Watashi No Tokyo has helpfully posted a list of cut-price izakayas worth checking out. A new wave of bargain-basement boozers have been emerging since the recession. (One of the benefits of economic downturn! I was broke before the banks collapsed so I’ve been loving it!)
Billy at Tokyo Filter has also discovered a place in Shimokitazawa selling beers for 180 yen!
With alcohol this cheap you can get smashed for months on end and still have money left for the back-street liver transplant!
If you can only afford beer from the convenience store, Billy has also discovered a brand of beer called Zero Life, with which life’s losers can drown their sorrows in total honesty.
Or you could choose to obliterate your brain cells with the lethal low-fat 7% happoshu, “Strong Off” (See below).
Finally, if you fancy an exotic cocktail, as of May the 25th you could mix your drinks with Pepsi’s demented new Baobab-tree-flavoured pop.
I always look forward to Japanese Pepsi’s annual weird summer drink (cucumber-flavour having been a particular favourite in the past) and Baobab looks set to continue the eccentric tradition. God knows what it’s going to taste like, though!
