• Ready for a small group Tokyo food tour that takes you deeper than what the Shinjuku or Shibuya areas can provide? Come with us and leave the canned, prefab tourist run behind, and instead get yourself a look into how locals unwind after work, all with nary a tourist in sight. Over the course of our 3-ish hours together, we'll visit three different standing bar restaurants (known as "tachinomi" in Japanese), which could roughly be depicted as bustling tapas places. There will be plenty of food, just in case the "bar" part makes you think otherwise. 
• We spread our tachinomi visits across two different neighborhoods, with a 6 minute train ride between the two. Adjunct to the tachinomi odyssey is a slightly more anthropological one, covering a bounty of cultural sights and topics, from nightlife to grocery shopping and more. With food, three drinks, and train fare included, you won't need to spend a single, shiny yen this carefree night.

Oimachi is just two minutes off the Yamanote (loop) Line from Shinagawa. Within moments we're snaking our way down the bustling, narrow backstreets that give this neighborhood the kind of character you just don't find in Tokyo's large-scale entertainment districts. It won't be long before we duck into our first tachinomi ("standing bar") for a cold beer and some tasty local, Japanese style pub grub. If beer's not your thing, there are other options. Also available, in case you are a little wary of some of the more "advanced" Japanese foods, are more classically Western palate-friendly options. Hunger staved for the moment, we embark on an educational walk, explaining (with visual aids aplenty) the vagaries of the Japanese nightlife scene. It's a lighthearted stroll, and we have fun with it; you needn't worry about it being raucous or off-color, and this tour is suitable for teens too, should you have them in tow. Then we eat some more.