Tokyo's Surviving Breweries
Sake made inside the world's largest city
Tama river groundwater, and one three-storey brewery in Minato-ku
- Duration
- Half day (Ome) or 1.5 hrs (central)
- Season
- Year-round; new sake late Nov to Feb
- Group
- 2 to 8
- Price band
- € to €€
Tokyo is not a sake region, which is exactly why this is interesting. In the western hills at Ome, Ozawa Shuzo has brewed Sawanoi on Tama river groundwater since 1702, a valley of cedar and gorge water an hour from Shinjuku that does not feel like the same prefecture. And in Shibadaimon, a few minutes from Tokyo Tower, a narrow multi-storey brewery makes sake vertically in the middle of the city, gravity doing the work of a hillside.
What you'll do
- Tour a 300-year-old brewery in the Tama valley, then drink in its riverside garden
- Or visit the tiny central Tokyo kura and see brewing stacked floor by floor
- Taste shinshu, new-pressed sake, if you're there between late November and February
- Learn why Tokyo brewing nearly disappeared, and what brought a little of it back
Pair it with
Hakone. Both are day trips west of Tokyo and both are about water coming out of rock.
Practical
Ome is about 1 hr 15 from Shinjuku on the Chuo and Ome lines.
Before you book
- Central Tokyo brewery visits are limited and often require booking well ahead. Confirm current visitor policy first.
When it runs
Solid ochre marks peak months. Pale ochre marks months it runs in a quieter form.
