Hoppy Street
Asakusa’s Postwar Drinking Alley
An 80-meter row of izakaya stalls west of Senso-ji. Beef-tendon stew, hoppy mixer drinks, plastic tables on the street. Tokyo's most legible postwar drinking ruin.
Last verified: 2026-05-16
Why Japanese People Love It
Hoppy Street formed in the immediate postwar years as a black market on the west side of Senso-ji, a few hundred meters from the temple's main hall. As Tokyo rebuilt, the black-market stalls slowly converted to permanent izakaya — wood-frame, three-table places serving cheap nikomi (offal stew), grilled meats, and the beer-substitute drink called hoppy that gives the street its name. Eighty years later, the same physical compression survives: a narrow lane with twenty small bars on either side, plastic tables spilling into the street, smoke and meat fat hanging in the air from late morning to midnight.
Hoppy is the historical drink. After the war, beer was expensive and scarce; a brewery in Sumida-ku invented hoppy in 1948 as a low-alcohol beer-flavored mixer that bars could pour together with cheap shochu. The combination was cheaper than beer, slightly stronger by alcohol content, and became the working-class Tokyo drink for thirty years. It survives mostly in shitamachi (the old eastern wards) — and Hoppy Street is the highest concentration of hoppy-serving bars in the country. Order a 'hoppy set' (shochu + bottle of hoppy) and you're drinking the postwar Tokyo cocktail in its original neighborhood.
What makes the street worth visiting beyond historical curiosity is that it functions. The food is real (motsu-nikomi simmering for hours, yakitori off charcoal, grilled fish), the prices are exactly what they were forty years ago (hoppy set ¥500-700, nikomi ¥600-800), and the daytime drinking culture — pop in at 1pm, order a beer, watch Asakusa's tourists walk past — is genuinely unusual in Tokyo. Most Japanese drinking happens at night; Hoppy Street is one of the few places where mid-afternoon drinking is the cultural norm.
How to Experience It
Walk west from Senso-ji's main hall, past the area's smaller sub-temples, and you'll find Hoppy Street on the left side, marked by red lanterns and chalkboard menus on the pavement. From Kaminarimon (the front gate) it's a ten-minute walk; from Asakusa Station's exit 1 it's seven minutes. The street is roughly 80 meters long, two-sided.
Walk in to any stall that looks interesting — there's no formal hierarchy of best-to-worst, and each place has its own atmosphere. Top picks among regulars: 正ちゃん (Shochan) and 鈴芳 (Suzuyoshi) for traditional nikomi-and-hoppy, 三ちゃん横丁 (Sanchan Yokocho) for grilled offal. Sitting outside at one of the plastic tables is the canonical experience; the indoor counters are tighter but warmer in winter.
Daytime drinking starts around noon and is most active 14:00-17:00. Evenings get busier with both locals and tourists. After 8pm the street gets noisier and the tables turn faster. Mondays are typically the quietest day; most stalls operate seven days a week.
What to Order
Hoppy set (¥500-700) is the canonical drink — order it 'set' (セット) and you'll get a glass of shochu over ice plus a small bottle of hoppy to pour over yourself. Drink rate: most stalls give you enough shochu for two pours of hoppy. Adjust the ratio to taste; the standard mix is one part shochu to four parts hoppy.
Food: motsu-nikomi (beef-tendon and offal stew, ¥600-800) is the street's signature dish. yakitori (grilled skewers, ¥150-250 per skewer) for variety. asari sake-mushi (clams steamed in sake) and oden (winter stew) are seasonal additions. Most stalls have menus posted outside; point at what looks good.
Plan your visit
| Area | Asakusa |
|---|---|
| Category | Izakaya & Bars |
| Price range | ¥1500-4000 (店舗による) |
| Hours | 店舗による（昼12:00-深夜中心） |
| Closed | 店舗による（多くは無休） |
| Access | 東京メトロ浅草駅から徒歩7分・浅草寺西側・雷門から徒歩10分 |
| Reservations | Walk-in only（基本予約不可） |
| English menu | ⚠ Limited Limited — 一部店舗で英語メニューあり |
| English support | Limited English support — translation apps helpful |
| Last verified | 2026-05-16 |
Nearby Experiences
Senso-ji's main hall is five minutes east; Kimuraya Honten for ningyo-yaki is six minutes east (daytime only). For dinner after drinking, Asakusa Imahan Honten for proper sukiyaki is eight minutes east or Asakusa Mugitoro Honten for yam rice on the river is ten minutes east.
For continuing the alleyway drinking style, the smaller alleys north of Hoppy Street (toward Hisago-dori) have additional shitamachi-style bars and izakaya that locals frequent more than tourists. The whole area is built for slow walking and hopping between two or three stops over an afternoon.