None of the seven Tokyo speakeasy bars below asks for a password. What they want is for you to find the building and the floor, sometimes an alley first, and then get past a door with little or nothing on it, and at most of them you'll need to book ahead or turn up at opening, because the biggest room here seats 30 and the smallest seats eight. The way in is a callbox sticker for a ninth floor in Nishi-Shinjuku, a 1928 basement in Ginza whose sign stays dark until night, a back alley in Ebisu, a Shibuya staircase with a shoeshine chair, a plain door with a neon light over it (that one's a listening bar), a fruit bar on a seventh floor and an eight-seat counter in Azabu-Juban where the only obstacle is the telephone. For the rest of the city, see our guide to the best bars in Tokyo.
1. Bar BenFiddich
Bar BenFiddich is on the ninth floor of the Yamatoya Building at 1-13-7 Nishi-Shinjuku, an office block with a tiled foyer and a very small elevator, and the only sign of the bar downstairs is a faded sticker on the callbox reading "MIXOLOGY & ELIXER BAR BenFiddich" (the spelling is theirs). Upstairs, behind a lacquered wooden door, the room is hung with dried wormwood from Hiroyasu Kayama's family land in Chichibu, Saitama. Bar BenFiddich has no menu. You pick a base of whisky, gin, absinthe or amaro and Kayama builds the drink from there, often with a pestle and mortar instead of a shaker. Try the Fresh Campari, which he makes in front of you from 13 ingredients. Figure about ¥4,500 ($30) a head, plus 10% for the seat and 10% for service. Bar BenFiddich is reservation only, bookings for each month open on the 20th of the month before and are gone within minutes, and anyone who rides up without one gets turned away at the door when it's full. The World's 50 Best Bars put it at No. 44 in 2026.
2. Bar Lupin
Bar Lupin is at the bottom of a flight of stairs off an alley between buildings at 5-5-11 Ginza, near Miyuki-dori, behind a dark wooden door with brick trim and an oval nameplate. The illuminated sign, a top-hatted gentleman thief, stays off until it is fully dark, so early in the evening Bar Lupin can look closed when it isn't. It opened in 1928, was renamed Pantei in wartime when foreign words were banned, closed in 1944 and reopened after the war. In 1946 Tadahiko Hayashi photographed Osamu Dazai here with his shoes up on a stool, and the print hangs at the end of the ash counter. Order the Golden Fizz, a gin fizz with egg yolk. There are 30 seats, an English menu and a ¥880 ($6) cover, and it's cash only. Bar Lupin takes walk-ins Tuesday to Saturday from 5pm to 11:30pm, last order 11pm, and Saturday is the busiest night (the anime Bungo Stray Dogs brings in fans of its own). Ask before you take a picture, and leave the other guests out of it. More on Lupin and its neighbors in our Ginza bars guide.
3. Bar Trench
Bar Trench is down a back alley a few minutes from the west exit of Ebisu Station, on the ground floor of the DIS Building at 1-5-8 Ebisu-Nishi, and the thing to look for is the sign under a street lamp. Inside it looks like fin de siècle France, with a back bar of absinthe, bitters and herbal liqueurs and a row of old bar books on top. Rogerio Igarashi Vaz, who co-owns Bar Trench, serves the absinthe the traditional way, with a sugar cube and cold water. The house drink is the TRENCH75, which the menu calls "a refined Japanese twist on the classic French 75": Nikka Coffey Gin, Lemon, Honey, Sparkling Sake, ¥1,850 ($12). The menu footer adds 10% for service and says "Each guest is required to order at least one drink" (the bar's own site says most guests order cocktails anyway). Bar Trench was No. 53 on Asia's 50 Best Bars 2026. It's open every day from 6pm to 2am and takes no reservations, and the room is small enough to fill early on weekends. When it does, ask about the Trench Annex across the street, which books on TableCheck.
4. Sip at The SG Club
The SG Club at 1-7-8 Jinnan, in Shibuya, stacks its bars on separate floors of one building (SG stands for Sip and Guzzle), and the speakeasy is the one underground. Guzzle, at street level, is a walk-in bar with no cover or service charge. Sip, which the bar describes as "a discreet basement bar inspired by New York gang clubs and samurai culture," is down the stairs past a shoeshine chair, in a room of dark wood and leather booths. Shingo Gokan built The SG Club on the idea that the samurai of Japan's 1860 embassy to Washington came home and opened a bar. Downstairs, the Tomato Tree is roku gin, tomato, dill, elderflower, mastic, and Sip adds 10% for service. Book Sip on TableCheck for 6pm or 7:30pm, up to five people. Without a booking, take a seat at Guzzle and ask about the basement. Both floors are open 6pm to 1am and close on the fourth Monday of the month. The second floor is a members-only cigar lounge. The SG Club was No. 10 on the World's 50 Best Bars in 2020.
5. Bar Martha
Bar Martha is in Ebisu, in unit 109 of the Vera Heights Ebisu building at 1-22-23 Ebisu, and all there is outside is a plain door with a neon light. Inside, records play on the turntables all night, mostly jazz, blues and soul, and the whisky list runs to nine pages. Bar Martha has three house rules: no photographs of anything inside, including your drink, the records and the sound system; no talking loud enough to get in the way of the music; and please don't spread the bar around on social media. Regulars know the second rule is the one the staff enforce most, so come as two people who want to listen. There's a cover charge and a dish of snacks, the ice is cut from the block, and if nine pages is too much reading you can buy a whole bottle for the table. Bar Martha is open every night from 7pm to 3am, except about five days at New Year and in summer, and doesn't take reservations.
6. Bar Orchard Ginza
Bar Orchard Ginza is on the seventh floor of the Sanraku Building at 6-5-16 Ginza, a nondescript office building that also has Tender, Kazuo Uyeda's bar, two floors up. Bar Orchard seats about a dozen people at a counter, and the menu is a basket of fruit. Point at a fruit, say how strong you want the drink, and Takuo Miyanohara makes it, maybe frozen with liquid nitrogen, maybe served in a miniature watering can (a pineapple-rum drink, poured over ice) or a doll's bathtub (ginger-infused vodka). Sumire Miyanohara, who runs Bar Orchard with him, knows her tequila, so agave drinkers should ask for her. 50 Best puts the average drink at about $17, and Bar Orchard was No. 28 on Asia's 50 Best Bars 2019. It's open Monday to Saturday from 6pm to midnight (last order 11pm) and closed on Sundays and holidays. Call +81 3-3575-0333 or book on AutoReserve, and keep the party to four or fewer, since bigger groups have been turned away rather than split.
7. Gen Yamamoto
Gen Yamamoto is on the ground floor of the Anniversary Building at 1-6-4 Azabu-Juban, a few minutes from Azabu-Juban Station, and you walk straight up to the door, no callbox, back alley or password involved. What's hard to get at Gen Yamamoto is the booking. Yamamoto pours only a tasting course of five, six or seven low-proof drinks, at ¥8,800 ($59), ¥10,000 ($67) or ¥11,000 ($73) with tax plus a ¥1,000 seat charge, at an eight-seat counter cut from a 500-year-old mizunara oak, and he is the whole staff. There's no music, just the sound of his knife on the cutting board. Reservations are by phone only, up to seven days ahead, and the person calling has to be the person drinking, so the hotel concierge can't do it for you. The bar is open Tuesday to Saturday from 3pm to 10:30pm, with the last booking at 9pm, and the phone is answered from noon to 3pm and from 10:30pm to midnight, so one of the two windows opens the minute the bar closes.
Tokyo Speakeasy FAQ: Getting In
Do Tokyo speakeasies need a password? None of the bars here use one. What you need is the building name and the floor (Bar BenFiddich 9F, Bar Orchard Ginza 7F), and then the bar's name on the building directory or callbox.
Which ones take reservations? Bar BenFiddich (reservation only, from the 20th of the month before), Gen Yamamoto (phone only, seven days ahead), Sip at The SG Club (TableCheck) and Bar Orchard Ginza (phone or AutoReserve). Bar Lupin, Bar Trench and Bar Martha are walk-in only.
Can I take photos inside? Not at Bar Martha. At Bar Lupin, ask first and keep other guests out of the frame.
Is there a cover charge? Bar Lupin charges ¥880 and Gen Yamamoto ¥1,000. Bar BenFiddich adds 10% for the seat and 10% for service, and Bar Trench and Sip add 10% for service. Guzzle, upstairs at The SG Club, has no cover or service charge.
What's the best time to arrive? At opening for the walk-in bars: 5pm at Bar Lupin and 6pm at Bar Trench, which fills early on weekends. Bar Martha opens at 7pm.
Photos: Araisyohei / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0), Bar BenFiddich, Araisyohei / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0), Bar Trench, The SG Club / SG Group, Bar Orchard Ginza
