HIP

HIP sits on the second floor of 5th Street in Shinjuku Golden Gai, announcing its identity without hesitation: Rock, Soul & Blues. In a district of nearly 300 bars, few state their musical creed this plainly on the sign. A red sign glows in the dim alleyway outside; inside, the music matches the promise. Open from 18:00 until 5am (29:00), the hours suit both the start of a Golden Gai crawl and a late-night detour after the rest of the city has wound down. Smoking permitted. This is less a bar for first-time Golden Gai wanderers and more a destination for people who already know they want a whisky with a blues riff behind it. The slightly tucked-away second-floor location is no obstacle for anyone who came looking.