(This article was written based on a visit to the bar in early January 2020 and concludes our Meiji and Taisho-era drinking trilogy. Please read responsibly.)

One of my favorite Japanese drinks is neither a beer, nor traditional sake or shochu but a bottled cocktail that originated in Tokyo’s original entertainment district.

In the 1890s electricity was Tokyo’s hip new thing and in turn anything new or hip was also dubbed “electric.” Alcohol importer Kamiya Denbei created a secret blend of medicinal brandy with gin, wine and other spirits to create Denki Bran (“Electric Brandy”) in 1893. This new electric cocktail became the signature drink of his Kamiya Bar in Asakusa. Though popular with regular people, like Harry’s New York Bar in Paris or El Floridita in Havana*, Kamiya Bar attracted famous authors like Osamu Dazai and it could be assured they downed Denki Bran.

Denki Bran is a sweet and strong medicine. The flavor is pure alcohol, which thanks to Col. Kamiya’s secret blend of Victorian booze and spices makes it impossible to nail down precisely as it lacks particular characteristics. It feels like it should have a rough burn but it doesn’t. The burn is gentle and often described as a tingle, bringing to mind its electric moniker. The tongue is coated with a slightly, fuzzy warmth that makes it easy to keep downing more like it’s a happy blanket for your mouth. Its one of those things that’s best just tried to really understand.

Like all good alcohol and sodas of its time it was also treated as a medicine; this one was said to fight off cholera. Tokyo was at the time very inconveniently having a cholera outbreak. I’m sure the health benefit claim of the liquor was pure coincidence.

Kamiya also likely realized it was cheaper to blend multiple imports together and sell the new product by the cup. At the time it would have been more affordable than beer. As we mentioned in our Meiji and Taisho beer article, in 1904 beer cost 20 sen. (Sen is to yen what cents are to the dollar) The 1907 cost for Denki Bran was 7 sen.

For reference, the railway clerk working across the street from Kamiya Bar at Asakusa Station brought home 180 yen a year during the first decade of the 20^th century; a mailman on average earned 14 yen a year. The mailman may not have had the opportunity to drink so much on that, but the clerk could get himself lit up on two of these and still be out less than if he bought a single low ABV beer.

Kamiya Bar is Tokyo’s oldest Western-style bar and the current Kamiya Bar building was built in 1921. (The building number is “1.”) It survived the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake which leveled Asakusa, destroying much of neighborhood and historic landmarks such as the red brick Ryounkaku, Japan’s first skyscraper. Asakusa was again destroyed in the 1945 air raid and the entire area engulfed in a sea of flames but Kamiya Bar survived again making this a rare, real historic Tokyo bar though it has evolved over the years.

The first thing I noticed about Kamiya Bar when we entered was that this wasn’t a bar, it was a beer hall. The wide-open room had rows of communal tables each maxed out with patrons talking loudly and laughing louder. The atmosphere was energetic and cheerful. It was electric.

There’s a classy yet not formal vibe and the staff was dressed in suits and traditional aproned waitress attire that I doubt has changed since the 1950s, much like the tables and most of the people at them. The room itself has little personality beyond feeling blandly dated to vaguely mid-Showa (1950s-60s) but you don’t come for the way it looks.

A wall of decorative plastic food and drink beside the line helped me decide on my initial choices, though when I got to the front the elderly host had an English menu. I ordered and he gave me tickets, then it was up to us to find open seats or possibly fight a patron for his.

We wadded through the crowded room and seeing our trouble, an older patron flagged us down and pointed to two open seats beside a couple. The clientele was by and large retirees and almost entirely Japanese with only one or two other foreigners in sight. I had no idea this many senior citizens could be so lively and energetic on a Sunday afternoon in a hall that doesn’t offer bingo.

They were a diverse crowd in their own way. There were couples, families and company men. There were OG salarymen, still wearing the same suits they’d been donning since the 1950s, men dressed for golf, wearing cowboy hats and a gentleman in a leopard print fedora. The young woman in front of me in the ticket line wore a kimono and I didn’t expect to see two young men dressed in World War II-era kokumin fuku, the “national uniform” for civilians patterned after army uniforms. (Likely because Japan’s biggest militaria show was taking place just down the street.)

After taking our seats we patiently waited for a waitress to appear and tried getting her attention, with hand-waiving and calling out. A gentleman who was closer to her also started calling for her and when he had her attention he directed her back to us. Drinking at Kamiya is almost a group effort.

We handed her our drink and meal tickets; with a practiced one-handed snap she cracked them in half. She took half the ticket now and she collected the other half when she brought us our drinks.

Denki Bran is offered in two different strengths, 30 proof (280 yen) and the “old” 40 proof (380 yen). In the name of science I tried the drink a few different ways. First was the recommended way, with an Asahi beer as a chaser. Never been an Asahi fan but Kamiya is just across the river from the brewery and has its own special beer tank. The combination of chilled “old” Denki Bran and that fresh draft beer is perfectly complimentary as the sweet, sharp liquor is soothed by the cooler alcohol and that brings out the flavor more. Alternating Bran and beer, I had to order another Denki Bran to finish off the mug.

Next came a Denki Fix, which is more dangerous than a chu-hi. The Denki Fix is Denki Bran disguised as a fruit punch. Then, for my last drink I found out it gets better and worse.

It came from an intriguing vintage ad on the menu of a white-faced kimono-clad geisha holding a bottle of wine and a small glass. The port wine came to me in a glass like the one in the old picture. It was heavy and sweet, meek as a kitten lacking any bite but definitely alcoholic. I could easily have downed a beer mug if it was served in such way, making this even more dangerous than Denki Fix.

Denki Bran, Denki Fix and Port Wine. Drinking for Science.

Not drinking on empty stomachs we had a few of the simple bar foods to go along with the drinks. Sandwich triangles and various fried things, all of which were pleasant and simple, were just right for the cost. Despite its location in a heavily touristed area all the prices were reasonable, likely because it caters almost entirely to locals and regulars. The Denki Bran and wine were each under 400 yen and the medium beer mug was 830 yen. Food was 500-800 yen, though there were meal options in the 1,000 yen range.

We took the afternoon slow and got to know our neighbors, but left while we could still stand. Stand firmly on our two feet and firm in our knowledge we need not fear cholera, just like they did in 1890, 1891 and 1895. I had no idea what to expect from Kamiya Bar but it definitely wasn’t that. I look forward to coming back the next time I’m in Asakusa, which given the number of museums in the surrounding area it’s bound to happen eventually. Maybe I’ll even dress up in my Meiji-best.

The first floor is the beer hall bar but the second and third floors are Kamiya restaurants which offer a different experience but still have Denki Bran.

Kamiya Bar can be visited in conjunction with the nearby Senso-ji Temple and its shopping street. For those still needing more inebriation Hoppy Street is just past Senso-ji, or maybe you can stop by the Ninja Bar in the Asakusa Station underground passages beneath Matsuya Department Store.

Denki Bran can also be purchased in random liquor stores around the country so you can perform some at home cholera prevention as well.

ADDRESS

Kamiya Bar
1-1-1 Asakusa, Taito-ku, Tokyo 111-0032
www.kamiya-bar.com

*Both places Ernest Hemingway drank, as well as Harry’s Bar in Venice, Sloppy Joes, the Ritz or…. Is there anywhere this man didn’t drink?! Screw it; he probably drank here once too. Demanded a double Denki with a Denki chaser in a large beer mug. I could see that happening. It’d be the Japanese version of the Papa Doble, which is a daiquiri ruined by heaping blinding amounts of booze in it.