Whether you’re looking to buy sake to take home or sit at a sophisticated little bar and drink boutique sake by the glass, Nihonbashi Hasegawa Saketen has you covered. Enter the L-shaped store and on your left you’ll find a long line of glowing refrigerators brimming with sake from across Japan. To your right and around the corner is a suave little bar that seats about six. The bar has that special juxtaposition of the old and the new – just outside is the Fukutoku Shinto shrine, surrounded by the stylish Coredo shopping and dining complex, and with a backdrop of towering Nihonbashi skyscrapers.
Inside Hasegawa Saketen, copper vintage lamp shades decorate the room, and the all- glass exterior makes it feel like an Edo-era liquor store-bar with a Fifth Avenue makeover. The bar serves around 17 varieties of sake by the glass, including traditional as well as many modern and innovative brews, starting at ¥400 per glass. If you're hungry, the snacks on offer range from dishes like deep-fried broad beans, oden, grilled chicken skewers and udon with chilled tomato.