Hidden beneath the city’s skyscrapers: Tokyo’s secret bar that even locals don’t know about

Text and photos by /Excerpted from "100 Ways to Tokyo" by Chen_g Xin, published by Kate Culture

1Q84 Bar

It was an unremarkable yet peculiar building. I passed by it several times while staying at a budget hotel (since it was just two blocks away — hard not to), and gradually became curious. Why was there a seemingly unfinished, grayish building standing in this spot? Moreover, although the sign was very small, it seemed that quite a few businesses operated here. And what kind of people would come to such an odd place to spend money? At night, I noticed what could barely be called a sign — dim red tubes spelling out a few words, indicating that there were businesses operating underground. What kind of place was this? What kind of shop was hidden beneath this low-key and strange building, with its inconspicuous sign?

It was a bar.

Located in the basement of an unassuming building at a not-so-busy intersection in Nishi-Ikebukuro, during the freezing cold Japanese New Year holiday when surrounding shops all displayed “closed” signs, this bar theoretically shouldn’t have been open for business either.

Logically speaking, that made sense.

But logic is one thing, and exceptions are another. So on the bone-chilling yet clean and crisp early morning of the second day of the New Year in Japan, I stepped into this quiet bar where even the sounds seemed to sink underground. I wasn’t the only customer, but there really weren’t many people — aside from me, there were only two female patrons. The bartender was dressed quite sharply, the bottles lining the walls were almost intimidatingly numerous, the lighting was dim, but unlike the gloomy exterior, this underground bar had a cool yet warm atmosphere, like an alternative postmodern scene from an indie film, incongruously yet harmoniously paired with a bartender in a bow tie.

There was no festive vibe here.

The bar should have had music — and it did — but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t recall the melody. I couldn’t remember if it was jazz, light music, or classical. It felt as though all that existed that day was the sound of my own quiet breathing in the silent bar. Even when looking back at the photos I took later, I had no recollection of what I drank or how it tasted. It was quite surreal. At the time, I was obsessed with "1Q84," a rare Murakami novel that I truly enjoyed, and I read it with particular care. While reading, I couldn’t help but think of this Tokyo bar that somehow matched the book’s atmosphere, so I posted a photo of the bar on my blog with the title "1Q84."

A friend who had lived in Japan for a long time saw the blog and specifically sent me a message: “You managed to find such a secret place? That’s seriously impressive!” So, it turned out this bar was a sought-after “hidden gem” (a term for lesser-known spots)? Hearing that, I was surprised too. No matter how closely I stared at the photo again, I still couldn’t recall the details of something that hadn’t happened all that long ago. Hey, for me, this was a first. Whether good or bad, it was undoubtedly something special.

Very "1Q84."

Naturally, I hadn’t written down the name of the "1Q84" bar at the time. After returning and searching for a long time, I confirmed it was Bar TIPTOP, located in the basement of Fragment MIB, 2-53-10 Ikebukuro, Toshima, Tokyo, near the west exit of Ikebukuro Station. Open year-round, from evening until the first train of the next day. It really was a very "1Q84" place. (laughs)