Field guides to Tokyo after dark
Tokyo after dark, one hour at a time.
The hard part of a night out in Japan is the door. You can't read the sign, the prices are often nowhere in sight, and you have no idea what happens upstairs. These guides explain how each kind of place works, what you are paying for, and what to say.
The night, in order
Each guide is pinned to the hour you are most likely to need it.
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Izakaya
How a Japanese bar bill works
The dish you didn't order, the cover charge, the tax, and the one question that settles all of it.
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Snack bars
Snack bars: a first-timer's guide
Five seats, one Mama, one microphone. How to get through the door and what the set charge buys.
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Girls bars, kyabakura, host clubsIn the works
The business of paid conversation
Who sits where, what the hour costs, and why your drink is the cheap part.
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Love hotelsIn the works
Rest, stay, and the lobby with nobody in it
How to pick a room from a wall of photographs and pay without meeting anyone.
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The last train
You missed the last train. Now what?
The trains stop for about four hours. Your options, from your own bed to a karaoke sofa.
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KaraokeIn the works
A room, a remote, and a phone on the wall
How rooms are priced, how to order, and how to find a song in English.
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RamenIn the works
The bowl that ends the night
Ticket machines, counter manners, and why slurping is correct.
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The first train
始発 Shihatsu
Everyone on it has a story from last night. Nobody tells it.
In the works for 2026
The Field Map
A printable map for one night out, drawn by hand over the real street plan, with numbered doors and what to say at each. The first edition covers Omoide Yokocho in Shinjuku.
The book
NIGHT SHIFT: JAPAN
A Tokyo Night, Hour by Hour
by Yohei Maruyama
The guides on this site are the manual. The book follows one evening in Tokyo from the first toast at 6 PM to the first train at 5 AM, with a Japanese guide who stops to explain the parts he once took for granted.
It is part travel narrative and part field guide, written for curious adults, whether you are planning a trip or reading from a comfortable chair.
Coming soon to Kindle
About this site
Written by Yohei Maruyama, author of NIGHT SHIFT: JAPAN, for visitors who are curious, a little nervous, and would like to avoid paying for the same mistake twice.
Prices and house rules change from door to door and from year to year, so these guides explain how each system works and give few exact figures. When in doubt, ask for the total before you sit down.
I take no payment from any venue or information center that appears in these guides.
Japan's legal drinking age is 20.