Always open: 16 best all-night, 24-hour restaurants and attractions in Tokyo

Ramen Nagi must be doing something right. When it opened in 2004, it operated out of a rented space in a bar in Shinjuku’s Golden Gai district. Today, it has outlets in Taiwan and the Philippines, while its flagship branch is still in Shinjuku’s drinking quarter.

Key to its wild success is its incomparable broth, made by simmering over 20 varieties of small dried fish for more than half the day. The deep, complex broth is then perfectly paired with thick, curly noodles. Come here after bar-hopping in Golden Gai, or if there’s a long queue at the main restaurant, head to the nearby annex outlet, which is also open 24 hours a day.

The expansion of this mini-chain is a boon for the city’s night owls – its six Tokyo outlets (there’s also one in Osaka) are all open 24 hours. This Roppongi branch, with its striking interior design and convenient location next to the Grand Hyatt, does a roaring trade in the wee hours, which is hardly surprising considering the abundance of nightlife options nearby.

For a rejuvenating post-clubbing feed, you’d do well to order the Peking duck, which is roasted whole in an iron pot, then cut and served at your table. While you tuck into the crispy skin, the chef will turn the bones and remaining meat into a soup and a stir-fry. It’s one duck, three ways.

Few experiences can make you feel more like a genuine Tokyoite than tucking into a feast of raw fish at three in the morning. This dependable chain gets surprisingly busy with sushi fans in the middle of the night. If you’re after some serious post-nightlife nourishment, a surefire bet is the sumptuous Sushi Zanmai selection, a vast bowl of rice with 13 toppings including tuna, sea urchin and salmon roe. Get it with a side order of grilled fish and chawanmushi (a savoury egg custard dish) and it’ll keep you going till lunchtime.

This branch of hip noodle chain Tsurutontan is busiest at lunch, dinner and 5am, when club-goers sit down for a wholesome meal to close the night before straggling home, and no wonder. The chain offers an extensive variety of dishes perfect for post-dancing calories. Menu items range from the simple kitsune (fried tofu) udon and classic curry udon with slices of beef to carbonara udon that might just pass for breakfast with its toppings of egg and bacon. You can decide on the amount of noodles you want: choose one bundle for the standard serving or up to double the noodles for no extra charge.

While we’d never judge anyone for their dietary habits, we’re slightly surprised to learn that at half four in the morning on any day of the week, a bunch of people will be sitting in a Shinjuku restaurant tucking into all-you-can-eat barbecued meat. This spacious and mercifully well ventilated Shinjuku restaurant offers charcoal-grilled yakiniku all day and all night – there are more than 70 items to choose from including top-notch meat and bibimbap.

While we’re at peace with pre-dawn meat feasts, we’re less convinced by Gen Chan’s gendered pricing policy – women pay ¥3,480 while men pay ¥3,980. The lunch menu is simpler and cheaper, of course, with the Kalbi set meal and Skirt Steak set meal priced at a mere ¥950 and ¥850 respectively

This expansive food hall at the newly opened Tokyu Kabukicho Tower is spread over a 1,000sqm area and can cater up to 1,300 people between 6am and 5am daily. Stroll through the lantern-lit alleyway and explore the ten eateries serving an array of Japanese food, including Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki, Okinawa soba noodles, and Hamamatsu-style gyoza.

Sure, it's a little over the top, but isn't that part of the fun? From DJ booths to LED screens, plus traditional Japanese performances on Fridays, this place serves up food, fun, and a whole lot of spectacle. 

Late-night dessert bars are hard to come by in a city that tends to prefer hot bowls of ramen for after-dark munchies, but Yelo is a gem for those looking to satisfy their sweet tooth after a late dinner. Tiramisu, matcha and mango milk are only a few of the basic flavours on the kakigori menu, along with more unusual combinations like avocado mascarpone and hojicha kinako (roasted green tea with soybean powder).

At first, the enormous mountain of fluffy shaved ice might look big enough for two or three people to finish, but it’s so exquisite you’ll find yourself easily demolishing the whole thing. Customise your snowy mound with toppings such as Oreo, shiratama (mochi dumplings) and extra milk sauce if you’re feeling extravagant. There are also boozy kakigori options, like the mint-chocolate-flavoured Grasshopper that comes served in a martini glass.

On Fridays and Saturdays, the shop is open from 12noon until 5am the following day. 

A 24-hour coffee shop is perhaps the perfect business model – caffeine-fuelled customers can stay up all night long ordering cup after cup, while stragglers stumbling home from a hard night’s clubbing can start the process of sobering up. If your 1am craving is for a cup of Joe rather than a midnight feast, then head to Edinburgh. Perched on the outskirts of Kabukicho, it offers as many as 20 varieties of coffee, including high-end brews such as ‘Hawaii Kona’ and ‘Royal Blend’ (a snip at ¥3,000). Servings are generous and you can squeeze two cups out of a pot, while they also have free wi-fi. 

A well-known stop for K-pop junkies, Hyungboo attracts a seemingly constant stream of customers, who dine amid walls plastered with the photos and autographs of Korean and Japanese celebrities. If you’re not there for the stars, go for the food – the restaurant offers an overwhelming selection of Korean fare, including hotpot favourites gamjatang and budae jjigae, keranchimu (Korean-style steamed custard egg), jijim and yakiniku, as well as an excellent set menu consisting of more than a dozen different dishes.