Akabane Ichibangai and OK Yokochō

photo by kcomiida · CC BY-SA 3.0

photo by kcomiida · CC BY-SA 3.0

Ichibangai (400 m, 100 bars) and OK Yokochō (100 m, 30), born from the black market, 1954.

From the station you enter the Ichibangai, 400 metres with about a hundred bars, and immediately on the left opens the OK Yokochō, an alley of just 100 metres with some thirty izakaya born from the post-war black market. You can drink from early afternoon: among the oldest places, open from midday, is the historic ‘鯉とうなぎのまるます家’, which specialises in eel and carp. There is no ticket and no single opening time: each bar sets its own.

The two streets were born together after the war: the trade that had formed around the Akabane black market became a shopkeepers' association in 1954. The Ichibangai is today the main street you take straight out of the station; the OK Yokochō, whose name comes, according to some sources, from ‘everything OK to drink and eat’, is the narrower side alley, older in atmosphere. For its intact ‘Shōwa-era’ air, the OK Yokochō has been chosen several times as a set for films and music videos.

ℹ️ A public street and alley, always accessible; the hours are those of the individual bars, many open from early afternoon. No booking and no ticket.

🚉 Akabane · 4 min walk

Sources: gotokyo.org · san-tatsu.jp · timeout.jp

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