After dark > Ebisu

• Izakaya arcade Ebisu Yokocho恵比寿横丁

  A former public-market arcade roofed over and reopened in 2008 as a run of about twenty tiny counters — three minutes from the east exit. Shared seating is the house rule, shops are cash-first with a small otoshi, and after ten it gets loud: a fine first stop if you want to talk to strangers, less so if you don’t.

• Wine bars Ebisu west-exit streets恵比寿西口

  Cross to the west side and Ebisu drinks quietly — natural-wine rooms, whisky counters and small bistros in the lanes running toward Daikanyama. Anyone stopping you in the street to pitch a bar is breaking Shibuya’s touting rules; walk on and pick your own door.

No opening hours here — small bars keep their own, and many close without notice. Check before you set off, and ignore anyone on the street offering to take you somewhere.

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