Drinking in places I can't afford

Or, five hotel bars in Tokyo worth a visit.

With each sip my intrigue grew. They looked younger than me, late 20s I guessed. I tried piecing the story together through their banter with the bartender. Their accent was American. They looked American too — take that as you will. From what I could tell they were newfound friends, their body language wasn’t entirely comfortable with each other. It was their first time in Japan. They were in Tokyo for five days, then to Kyoto and Osaka. All chalk I thought, nursing my martini, a classic itinerary.

Continuing to drop some eaves, I wondered how they could stay at this hotel for a week. There was nothing particularly elegant about them, other than their presence on the 39th floor and the endless city lights as their backdrop. To be fair there was nothing elegant about me either, but it wasn’t my bar, I was just a stray someone let it. Trust fund babies? Credit card points, perhaps? Another sip. Even if I could, would I drop $1,500 a night to stay here? Maybe...yeah, maybe, I mulled as boldness started to spill from my glass.

“Champagne?” the bartender asked, already mid-pour. Why yes, yes of course, I thought.

When you’re at a six seat hotel bar next to two other compatriots, it’s inevitable that you’ll become friends within a drink or two. Add a convivial bartender and you’ll be exchanging WhatsApp details by the end of it. It was their first full day, so they were still a little jet lagged. They were from San Francisco and met at work and decided to take their friendship to the next level. Things were getting serious, apparently. In any case, the puzzle was sorted, some kind of tech money I figured, maybe even newly minted A.I. equity to help ease the nightly rate.

We ended up closing down the bar and in the elevator on the way down I asked them to which floor they were headed as I reached to press “L”.

“Oh no no, we can't afford this place,” they responded, “we just came for the bar.”

We all laughed.

That’s the allure of the hotel bar, I suppose, a taste of elegance. And there’s perhaps no better place for elegance than Tokyo.

Here are a few hotel bars in Tokyo worth a visit.