Kanpai to Asakusa’s Hoppy Street ホッピー通り, packed full of izakayas, outdoor bars and a generally very merry place to be in Tokyo!
One our favourite things to do in Asakusa, Hoppy Street is a fun Tokyo at night activity where locals hang out for drinks and foods (it is open in the day too but less busy).
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Hoppy Street lives up to its name and is full of boozed up characters, happy hours galore and some delicious smelling soul food like yakitori skewers or steaming bowls of ramen.
Open until very late, this is an awesome and atmospheric drinking street to visit at night, sip some sake and get friendly with the locals.
Here is our guide to hanging out in Tokyo’s Hoppy Street, Asakusa.
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How to get to Hoppy Street (Asakusa) in Tokyo
Located in Asakusa, the easiest way to get to Hoppy Street is by getting the train to Tokyo Metro Asakusa Station (浅草駅) – which has the Asakusa, Ginza, Ryomo, Tobu Railway and Tobu Skytree lines running through it.
Alternatively, the nearest station to Hoppy Street is Asakusa Station on the Tsukuba Express / TX line (it starts in Akihabara and has 20 stops until Tsukuba including Asakusa).
Asakusa Station is centrally located and around a 1 minute walk to Sensō-ji shrine and all the main Asakusa shopping streets.
It is around a 10 minute walk to Hoppy Street from Asakusa Station or a 2 minute walk from Asakusa TX Station.
Tokyo Hoppy Street
Asakusa isn’t short on bars and izakayas – from chain pubs like Hub Asakusa (famous for its life jazz) through to weird and wonderful bars like the Asakusa Ninja Bar, you are spoilt for choice for a night out in Asakusa.
However, one of the most fun evening activities in Asakusa has to be Hoppy Street ホッピー通り, a bar street that has around 20 bars, izakayas and restaurants all within close proximity.
As soon as you reach Hoppy Street, you can hear the chitter chatter and loud talk from the bars .
During winter time, all of the bars have transparent sheets / plastic covers to keep the warmth in which illuminate the street like ‘beery beacons’. If you don’t drink or don’t want to eat here, you should still visit Hoppy Street as it is very atmospheric.
Some say that Hoppy Street is touristy and overpriced (blah blah blah) – well, it might be a bit touristy but hey, this is Asakusa, one of the most popular Tokyo neighborhoods for visitors so what do you expect?
We went for a night out along Hoppy Street and whilst there were a few tourists, it was mainly locals, workers and young people hanging out so do give it a try.
Tokyo bar street – drinking along Hoppy Street
We last visited Asakusa in November and stayed here for several nights – as it was cold at night when we visited, Hoppy Street was mainly an indoor affair with transparent ‘curtains’ / plastic covers covering the outdoor seating and smoking areas.
Hoppy Street is always lively no matter what time of day you visit but obviously more so late at night and on weekends.
A common question we get asked in our Japan Travel Tips Facebook group is do the Hoppy Street bars have a cover charge? Actually, most bars along here do have a cover charge, which is usually a mandatory additional fee that pays for service and a small appetiser (called otoshi).
This is quite common in Tokyo’s bar areas and you’ll pay cover fees in many (but not all) bars especially in places like Golden Gai and the ‘interesting’ bars on high floors in windowless buildings – buyer beware!
But on Hoppy Street, all of the cover charges can be seen clearly on the menus / bar fascias and signage.
We ate and drank at Motsukushi Izakaya on Hoppy Street and our service / cover charge was 300 Yen each (in November 2024) which included 3 quail eggs as the mandatory ‘snack’.
Experience and prices
Given how busy Hoppy Street can get (especially on warm summer nights and during peak travel season), you might need to occasionally queue to get in – we also found some bars stop serving food quite early.
We visited on Saturday night at around 9pm and drank at Motsukushi もつくし (map) – we chose here because it was busy with locals plus was one of the few spots where we could see a table immediately available.
Prices were as follows:
- Okonomiyaki – 1,000 Yen
- Yakisoba – 950 Yen
- A 5 meat skewer assortment – 850 Yen
- Stew – 700 Yen
- A sashimi plate assortment – 1,200 yen
Expect to pay 650 Yen for 450ml draft beer and 1,100 Yen for 1000 ml beer. Highballs started from 550 Yen.
We found our food so-so (and there are likely better places than Motsukushi) but the atmosphere was good and drinks cold which was all we wanted.
These izakayas along Hoppy Street aren’t really family orientated so we wouldn’t recommend dining at Hoppy Street with kids.
You might like these Tokyo neighbourhood guides:
Akihabara
Asakusa
Ginza
Harajuku
Ikebukuro
Nakano
Odaiba
Ryogoku
Shibuya
Shimokitazawa
Shinjuku
Also check out our
Where to stay in Tokyo guide
Hoppy Street clothing
And finally, did you know you can buy Hoppy Street branded t-shirts and aprons in the Asakusa Uniqlo store (map).
Asakusa’s unique Uniqlo store has a couple of storeys and we think this is one of the coolest UNIQLOs in Tokyo.
Customising your own Uniqlo bags or tops using the tablets is really simple here but better yet, it has designs that are unique to this store featuring local brands like Asakusa Hanayashiki, Marugoto Nippon or Hoppy Street t-shirts (cheers to that)!
We really like the UNIQLO replica furry panda on display, which is a nod to the panda ride at nearby Asakusa Hanayashiki.
Uniqlo Asakusa is open daily from 10am to 8pm.
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