TheOpenBook

Down a narrow alley in Golden Gai's 5th street, behind an unmarked wooden door, is The OPEN BOOK. Step inside and the first thing that hits you is the floor-to-ceiling bookshelf packed into a space barely three tatami mats wide — those are the collected works of the late Kojimasa Tanaka ("Komi-san"), a celebrated novelist who won both the Naoki Prize and the Tanizaki Prize. Owner Kai Tanaka is his grandson, and opened this bar in 2015 with one bold claim: the world's best lemon sour. The signature drink — brown sugar shochu from Amami Oshima, syrup made from domestically grown pesticide-free limes, slices of Hiroshima lemon, served over large ice in a thin glass — is widely credited with igniting the lemon sour craze that swept Tokyo. The standing-only bar gets packed shoulder-to-shoulder, but the wall of books keeps the atmosphere grounded. A natural mix of locals and international visitors makes it easy to strike up conversation even on your first visit. If you love literature, good liquor, and talking to strangers, let the unmarked door tempt you in.