Night Dining & Touring in Tokyo’s Wall Street: Marunouchi!

Night Dining & Touring in Tokyo’s Wall Street: Marunouchi!

The center of Tokyo is full of towering buildings, tons of trains, restaurants, and of course, a lot of hustle and bustle. Today, I’m going to be exploring an area around Tokyo Station called Marunochi, which is a beautiful place to visit at night. On the surface though, it might seem like a place where people just come to go to work during the day and then go home at night, but it is so much more than that. So, today I’m going to be diving deeper into the area of Madinochi to discover its delicious eats and beautiful sightes. And of course, hopefully we’ll catch some gorgeous skylight at night with the help of a local guide who I’m gonna meet very soon. Before we go, don’t forget to subscribe for more Japan adventures like this one. Let’s go meet our guide. [Music] Hi, Yuri. Yes, I’m Yuri. Nice to meet you. My name is Yuri. I’m born and raised in Tokyo and I’ll be your tour guide today. Um, I actually studied abroad in Canada for like around a year. That’s where I got my English from. I’m very, very excited to show you around this place. Amazing. So excited. Thank you. So, is this going to be our first stop?
Yes. So, let’s grab some drinks and let’s start from here.
Amazing.
I love the little lights in the background. Very cool. Also, I just wanted to say I love your kimono. This is beautiful. It’s actually vintage. Right now it’s like a spring season, so I wear the proper kimono. But during summer season, I wear yukata, which is the summer kimono.
So for tours, like you’ll always be wearing kimono or traditional Japanese outfit. This is really cool. Is there any special reason why you wear a kimono for this?
I think obviously first of all the tradition like how we perform, how we wear this and it’s kind of obviously add a little touch to the Japanese experiences with the kimono tour guide. So that’s why we wanted to bring the kimono into the tour.
So this is our first stop of the night,
right? Uh we’re going to have some drinks, some snacks, and then I will walk around and show you around this Marunochi area while we explain the history, why this place is as it is now. And then I will take you to Shimaru with different type of drinking spot as well.
And then later on, I’ll show you the great view spot. So you can actually see the Marino area at night.
That sounds amazing. Very romantic. Um, and I cannot wait. Should we start with some drinks? Maybe. I can see there’s some really cool looking cocktails in this menu. What’s your favorite?
I’m gonna get the mojito probably.
Okay. Classic mojito. That’s always a good one.
I think I want to try this. The go.
Let’s do that.
I’m just very intrigued by the name. I like choosing things that I haven’t seen before. Okay. Come by.
Cheers.
Cheers. Very refreshing. Minty.
Oh, that’s good. Goodness.
It’s quite sweet.
All right. It’s like a sweet yogurt drink that kids often drink in Japan called Karisu. Sometimes they make cocktails out of it. So, this one’s like the fruity version of that. So, it’s a little bit tart from the yogurt,
but also very sweet.
I don’t taste the alcohol too much, so it might be a bit dangerous.
A little dangerous. While we’re here chatting, I wanted to chat a little bit about Marunochi area because my impression of Madunochi area, it feels just like a business town to me.
It is. So, there’s 3.5 million business people coming here every day working. This is the biggest business district in Japan. There is some cool spot that I will take you later that’s more casual, laid-back, um, very friendly, home, a home feeling.
Oh, cool.
Yeah. I feel like I don’t see a lot of that in this area. So, that’s neat.
Unless you meet the Japanese person, you wouldn’t know there’s such places.
I’ve lived here for a long time, but I I’m not an expert on the Marinochi area. So, that’s why it’s cool to have a guide who can teach you more about it. So, if you ever want to do more of that, that’s why you should join a tour. So, this is Nakadori, one of the main district in um Marinote, main area in Marenote. um great space to like walk around after dinner and also there’s a lot of high-end brands here. So, if you want to go shop around, there’s um bunch of stuff that you can buy, cafes, restaurants. And it feels so nice. It’s got this wonderful slightly western if European almost cobblestone almost brick is what it looks like.
Exactly.
And just these very fancy high-end
Exactly.
shops all around us.
Yeah. And then during Christmas those trees lights up. They do a lot of illuminations.
Yeah.
Oh, that’s so pretty. This is such a beautiful street already. Also, they have these like cute little pop-ups.
Yeah, they do seasonally sometimes.
Oh, cute.
So, it depends on the season. They change like brands changes. There’s popup. They stop the car from entering so you can walk around freely
in the middle of the road. Yeah. You can t You can walk around.
I love it. [Music] So beautiful here.
Yeah. So we’re here at Yoko Street which directly connects the Emperor Palace over there to the Tokyo station back here.
Ooh wow.
The reason why it’s called Yoko Street is the emperor comes out and they walk out like straight ahead which is the center of Japan Tokyo.
Uh that’s why it’s called like directly open wide space. There was just a moment ago there was actually some people who were taking wedding photos here. Yeah,
there really is just this iconic symbol of Japan and people are trying to get their photos here all the time.
So, not only just this Tokyo station, but there’s several other places that also have similar kind of nostalgic western inspired style buildings like banks, theaters here, cafes even. I think we really appreciate the um history also the feeling of nostalgic to it as well like the retro vibes to it. But that also contrasted with all of these new modern buildings. Exactly. I think is maybe the coolest part about Marinoi area so far.
Definitely very coordinating. There’s actually a place I want to take you which is also retro kind of nostalgic inspired if you want to feel
after this place. After work we commonly go to those isakaya places which feels very nostalgic to us and have great meaning. Um keeping the history alive.
All right let’s go.
Let’s go. Yay. Put it
this way. [Music] Oh, what a art.
Yeah. So, this place is Sakaba. Literally translate to rebuilding Japan. This place was built around 1950s right after World War II. Japan was, you know, crushed and this place was, you know, trying to rebuild Japan, regenerate what they have the energy. So that’s this place was named after.
That’s so cool. And I love that it has these kind of retro vibes from the 1950s.
Yeah. It’s very Showa style we call it. It’s like very retro, nostalgic, and it’s very like giving like comfort to our heart. And they’re also keeping this standing bar style. It’s very casual drinking, eating with friends, with your partner, with co-workers even after the work. Okay. So, let’s start with drinks. But what do you recommend to drink here?
So, I would say bottled beer. It’s very common. It’s very Showa style. It’s not the, you know, glass beer. There’s also bice, which is very unique. I think it’s like the pickled plum. It’s a little sour, but it’s very, very good. I recommend. It’s very refreshing as well. Oh, that sounds really good. So, it’s got the ume bushi probably the plum.
Those are very sour.
Um, but I’m really curious about that. That sounds really good.
What kind of foods do they have here?
So, they have mozzar intestines kind of like oregan kind of food, but um to directly translate it, but they also have different type of like grilled or like cooked in this like soup soupy style.
Popular in Japan, right?
Exactly. Those goes super well with the drinks, with the sake, with the beer, with hib even. [Music] Thank you very much. [Music] Don’t know who. [Music] All right, it’s time to try our drinks. Um, we’ll do a little compai. But normally for beer culture, usually it’s customary to pour the beer.
You know very well.
Yes. Thank you. So, I’d like to pour the beer for you. Thank you very much.
Okay. All right. So, you would hold the glass and I’ll do a pour. Perfect ratio.
Not bad. Not bad. Good job. Glass pour. Yay. Ah, she beat me lower. You guys can try if you ever drink with a Japanese person specifically, try to lower the glass to show respect to them.
They’ll be impressed. They’re like,
they will be very impressed. Especially if they’re older than you. Then that’s definitely something you want to do. Or um somebody from work basically.
Somebody from work. That’s so good. That’s actually quite sour. I like it. If you like sour candies, I think you would really like this. And there’s a little bit of this herbal flavor from the shiso leaf. Almost like adding some mint or basil to a drink. So good. This is a really good recommendation. Thank you. I’m glad you liked it.
Yay.
And how’s your beer?
Beer is amazing as always. Cold, crisp, extra flavor because you poured it,
right? Thank you. All right, so we have some of our food.
Yay.
Yay. So, this one is the moss nikomi.
Yeah, it’s miso based, too, with the mozzu and also tofu in it.
And you can add the little spice if you like spicy. It’s for this one. It’s shimi. There’s seven type of spices in there. You can add a little spice.
Love that. Okay. That is really good. I think maybe the texture is something to get used to, but if you were not thinking about it, like if you didn’t know what it was, I think you’d you’d be able to enjoy it like a normal soup.
Right. Right. I think
it’s very smooth. Like
it’s very nice.
Yeah. There’s nothing really super strange about the flavor. Um, the texture is just maybe slightly different from what you might be used to or like regular meat, but it’s very good. [Music] So, we have the pork belly on a skewer. Always good. Can’t go wrong, right?
And then, for some reason, I decided to order this spicy pepper.
Yeah. I don’t I feel like it’s not going to be that spicy, but he said it was really spicy, so we’ll see what happens. I’m going to give it a try. Okay, here we go. So far, it’s not too bad.
M. Another bite.
Maybe. Let’s do another bite and see if that changes things. Here we go. It still feels okay.
Oh,
yeah.
Maybe you are very high tolerant to spices.
It’s not bad. It’s like for me just the right amount of spice. Little kick of spice on the inside and salty and crispy on the outside. I like it. I like it. Adventurous day. We have to end the adventure at this table with the tripe. The third stomach, which honestly I am quite nervous about. When I looked at it carefully, it looks a little scary. Okay, let’s give it a try.
Last dish. All right, I’m going to be adventurous here and try the third stomach.
Okay, are you ready?
Yeah.
Okay. Wa! You took a lot. She’s Well, you’ve eaten this before, right? Start with a small bite. Here we go.
Hi. You like Oh, that’s pretty good.
Texture is good. The texture is a little bit firm. Crunchy.
Bit crunchy.
It’s kind of interesting, but Kikurag the um it’s like a wood ear mushroom or something. Has a bit of this crunch as well.
It tastes like that texture- wise. And it’s got some like cabbage, no green onions in there for extra refreshing crunch. And it’s all very salty. Like a refreshing salt. Yes. Like a salad. Like a salty salad. Exactly.
It tastes really good.
All right. So, let’s wrap up this food and we can I will take you to a very great view spot as a last stop.
Ooh, I can’t wait.
Can’t wait to see it at night view.
It’s going to be very pretty.
Yay. Wow. This is our last spot with the view. And you can all actually see all all over Tokyo Station with high-end building, high-rise building and hotels.
That’s so cool. I’ve never quite seen it from this view before. This is absolutely stunning.
And actually, you can take out some food from those restaurants, even drinks, and you can enjoy this balcony if it’s like not raining. And you can enjoy with the view, with the food, the good company.
Great day spot as well.
Oh yeah, this would be so cool.
So basically, you can freely use the space. This is all free. You can just come up here without any food as well. You can just like enjoy the view.
This is a good spot to know.
This is so cool. And this whole tour was so fun.
Oh, I’m glad you liked it. Thank you so much for guiding me around and showing me
of course such cool spots and like honestly the the night lights and sights of Tokyo Marinoi area are just so beautiful. It really feels like a little bit of a an escape and I loved the standing bar that we went to. Retro vibe, good drinks and it was a chance for me to be a little bit adventurous and try some hamo which was really nice. I think it’s it’s cool to have an opportunity to try something new every once in a while. So, I definitely recommend you guys to try. If you’re a tourist here, you wouldn’t know what the daily life, day-to-day life looks like of a Tokyo person. But if you come here at night, you can actually see what they enjoy after work, what they talk about, where they do they go, what do they enjoy in, you know, day-to-day basis. You can actually see and feel the Tokyo perspective living here. I’ve had plenty of evenings in the past where you come out to one of these drinking places and you can make friends with like locals who work here. So, you have a chance to interact. Maybe some of them will speak English as well.
Yeah, they do. They do. A lot of them.
Very cool. Well, this was such a nice evening out in Marochi. If you guys want to join a fun walking tour around this beautiful district of Tokyo, then you can do so. It’s actually bookable on byfood.com. So, please scan the QR code. If you want to be guided by a lovely tour guide in a beautiful kimono, then um definitely book the tour. This tour includes two foodie spots, but there’s so much more to explore in this area. One place that looked absolutely amazing when we walked by was No Code. If you’re looking for burgers, this is a really good place to check out near Tokyo Station. And if you enjoyed this video, please give us a thumbs up, leave some comments, let us know if you’ve visited Tokyo Station or Marinoi area, and don’t forget to subscribe. And we’ll see you soon in another video. Bye
bye. We’ll see you next time. If you enjoyed this video, click the photos on the left for more. And click the one on the right to learn more about buy food and book your own Japan adventures.

Familiar with the grand Tokyo Station entrance? That is Marunouchi. Placed in the heart of Tokyo, it is the town’s finest financial district. Think about the infamous New York’s Wall Street… but in Tokyo. So, what’s good there?

This video will reveal to you where AND how the best salaryman goes for after-office drinks. All the best izakayas. Best bites and drinks to order. And of course, the best way to stroll the town afterwards.

Check out this byFood experience ➡️Marunouchi’s Premier Cultural Night Tour https://bit.ly/4n9z3ZG

This project is supported by a grant from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Tokyo Convention &Visitors Bureau for the promotion of nighttime tourism.

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