Lobelia

Head up to the second floor of Akarui Hanazono 5th Avenue in Shinjuku's Golden Gai, and you'll find BAR Lobelia. The counter seats around eight people, and a quick glance at the wall reveals something worth noticing: the model on the Asahi Super Dry poster hanging inside is the mama herself. Reiko Harashima grew up literally on this very street. Her mother Chiyoko opened the bar back in the 1950s, and Reiko took over in 2013 as the second-generation mama — gaining wider recognition after appearing on the TBS program "Matsuko's Unknown World." Few people in Golden Gai know the neighborhood's history as intimately as she does. Reiko is behind the counter on Fridays only; on other nights, a rotating cast of staff keeps the bar going. It's not unusual to see foreign visitors sitting side by side with regulars, translation apps in hand — the bar welcomes newcomers to Golden Gai without ceremony. If you spot the blue sign lit up on a Friday night, climb those stairs.