A Tokyo rooftop beer garden, July 1973

This is what a Tokyo rooftop beer garden looked like in 1973. One year later, in the summer of 1974, they hadn't changed one iota and this is exactly how I remember them, but this no-frills style was still lots of fun and can even be found today. That said, today there's a much greater variety of rooftop beer gardens and outdoor bars that did not exist in the 70s, such as the ones pictured below. Although I haven't been to a rooftop beer garden in a number of years, now that summer is only about 6 weeks away, I look forward to finding some good ones to pass a hot summer night at. Of course, one can find many rooftop beer gardens with an online Google search, I thought this could be a thread where people could share the names and locations of memorable rooftop (outdoor) beer gardens and bars (anywhere in Japan) that they have actually been to that they recommend and share their experiences or give a short review.

Roppongi BBQ Beer Garden- ARK HILLS SOUTH TOWER ROOFTOP LOUNGE” at Akasaka, Roppongi



Sky Beer Garden, Hilton Hotel, Shinjuku

My first rooftop beer garden experience was at the Takashimaya Department Store in Nihonbashi in the late summer of '74. Although my memory of it is somewhat sketchy, I recall it looking very much like the top 1973 photo, even though Takashimaya is considered an exclusive department store, it had a no-frills feel to it compared to most of the beer gardens of today. IIRC, there were Japanese paper lanterns hanging overhead with the name of the draft beer being served emblazoned on lanterns as an advertisement. I'm sure the beermakers supplied these lanterns to the beer gardens for free. I recall that waitresses came to the table to take orders and that the menu was limited to several staple items such as fried potatoes, sausages, yakitori, yakisoba, etc. It was a very new experience for me that I really enjoyed. In those days, beer gardens were most often found on the roofs of department stores but today they are more often found on the roofs and terraces of hotels and tall buildings. Takashimaya still has a rooftop beer garden that operates during the summer but it is very different from the one that I first experienced.


Takashimaya Department Store, Nihonbashi, Tokyo


Takashimaya's rooftop beer garden today, with private grills for each table