The Beer Lady at Tsukiji Fish Market

“Shall we have a drink first?” I offered Fafa. He glanced at his watch. It wasn’t even midday, and we didn’t come to Tsukiji to drink. But on that particular day, the fish market was overcrow­ded by tourists (damn us!) and the locals. It was two days before the new year, and the crowd was overwhelming for me, let alone for him.

“Where? “he asked. I nudged his back. He didn’t realize that he was standing in front of an Izakaya. “Let’s“, he sighed before sliding the door and letting me in first.

We were greeted by a middle-aged woman wearing a Kirin beer polo with “Irasshaimase!” and a bow. We bowed back and sat on a long stool in front of an actual beer barrel used as a table. She brought us the menu, said something in Japanese, and left us to tend to her other customer, an older Japanese couple. They wanted another serving of sake. By its look, they were already drunk, talking and giggling loudly.

Not a typical daytime scene I have seen so far in Japan, but it was delightful to watch.

Fafa ordered a cold Kirin while I took some time to decide between beer and sake. Beer was a safer choice at 11 AM but looking at the other table. Sake seemed more fun. Soon after, she placed the sake in front of me and warned, “hotto!”. The warm sake was perfect!

The Memorable Japanese Beer Lady at Tsukiji

Boozed-up by the sake, I started observing the beer lady, who I assumed is the owner of the Izakaya. She might be the jolliest Japanese I have ever met. She was chatty to the patrons, laughing out loud at almost everything they said — it was as if she had drunk enough sake that morning.

Once we both were relaxed enough to face the outside world, I went to the front to pay her. Instead, she asked, “Photo?“, while pointing to Fafa. She must have seen I reloaded my film camera roll a few minutes ago. “Hai!” I replied but gesturing to her and I. Fafa took a picture of us, standing side by side, with big boozy smiles plastered on our faces. Though the end result was blurry (we are still mastering the clanky second-hand camera), it memorized one of the best mornings of our latest Japan trip.

Soon, we stumbled out of the warm Izakaya and back to the sea of people in the market. “There“, I pointed out the tourist centre on the opposite. I suddenly wanted to get the overpriced bright blue polyester t-shirt with the Tsukiji Fish Market logo.

Follow me on Instagram @KultureKween for more recent updates.