May 11-12 is this year’s Tokyo International BarShow! The theme this time around is “Cocktail & Music,” so we can expect to see some great live performances pairing bartending and music.
Every year, Tokyo’s bar and cocktail community descends on Tokyo Dome’s Prism Hall to celebrate cocktails, spirits, and liquor. Last year’s BarShow brought over 12,000 visitors across the two days, making it by far Tokyo’s largest spirits-related event. Dozens of booths, loads of great drinks, cocktails, whiskies, awesome masterclasses, and even an interview with Dave Broom capped off the weekend for me.
One of this year’s special guests is The Craft of the Cocktail author, “King Cocktail” himself, Dale DeGroff. Mr. DeGroff will be joined again by Dave Broom. It’s great to see industry veterans making their way over to Tokyo for the event.
To get a better idea of what the weekend is all about, see my event reports from the 2018 and 2017 BarShows.
Though we’re pending the event schedule and Annual Bottle announcements, they certainly won’t disappoint! Tickets are available for purchase in English at Lawson Ticket. It’s 5000 yen for a single day, or 9000 yen to attend both days.
What’s in store for this year?
While there have been several exciting announcements in the world of Japanese whisky this year, my personal view is we’ll see more focus on bartender-friendly Japanese craft white spirits and liqueurs such as the new Kanade series. Much of the hubbub about Japanese whisky has shifted over to the Whisky Festival in Tokyo. On the other hand, we’re just 15 away from the the Tokyo Olympics, so Japanese bartenders will be doing their best to showcase what cocktail flavors Japan has to offer to the world.
Win your free ticket!
I’m happy to announce that thanks to the generous folks at the Cocktail Culture Foundation, this year we once again have four free 1-day tickets available exclusively to readers of nomunication.jp. The tickets can be used on either May 11 or May 12.
To enter the drawing, simply tell us your favorite place in Japan by commenting on this blog post (be sure to use a real email address) or on the Facebook post. If you’ve never been to Japan, let us know where you want to go the most! I will choose four winners at random and contact you for your snail mail address.
Entries close on April 27 at 10PM JST. Please only enter if you can be in Tokyo on the weekend of the show!
See you there!
Hi there! I created and run nomunication.jp. I’ve lived in Tokyo since 2008, and I am a certified Shochu Kikisake-shi/Shochu Sommelier (焼酎唎酒師), Cocktail Professor (カクテル検定１級), and I hold Whisky Kentei Levels 3 and JW (ウイスキー検定３級・JW級). I also sit on the Executive Committees for the Tokyo Whisky & Spirits Competition and Japanese Whisky Day. Click here for more details about me and this site. Kampai!
Favourite place in Japan is Sendai where you get a pace of life that is slower than that in the mega cities, yet no less vibrant and easy access to nature. Of course it helps that Miyagikyo distillery is also close by!
Favorite spot is the Yoichi Distillery in Hokkaido.
Tokyo for sure as I can enjoy hunting for bars hidden with Japanese whiskies selling at reasonable prices.
Japan has too many good places to choose from! But I’d have to say that my favourite is… Nagasaki.
Kamakura: Ancient Japan, with an east coast Tasmanian vibe.
Yamazaki Distillery
Fukuoka! Slower pace than Tokyo and Osaka, yet plenty of nice and affordable bars to hang around!
Thanks to everyone that entered! Winners will be contacted soon.
Hi,
Please could you help me with purchasing tickets online in English, can’t seem to find a link or page that’s not in Japanese.
Many thanks
Sorry put the wrong email, messaged before about help buying tickets online for the show on Friday
carolineowen03@gmail.com