Working Holiday in Tokyo: Evenings and New Friends
If you are in Tokyo on a working holiday or as a student, your day ends late. Classes finish, the shift finishes, and it is already night. HEAVEN TOKYO, a Korean bar in Shinjuku, opens at 9 p.m. for exactly that reason, and it closes at 5 a.m., so arriving late means no rush. Japanese guests who like Korea and Korean guests who like Japan sit at the same counter even on weeknights. Opening night is Friday, October 23.
11 p.m.: straight from the shift
Restaurant and retail shifts tend to end around 10 or 11 p.m. This is a bar you can walk into with your apron still in your bag. If your Japanese is not keeping up yet and you spent the whole shift saying little, here is where the day gets talked through in your own language. The Japanese guest next to you catches part of it and answers with a line of Japanese. For anyone hoping to get to know students or working-holiday makers in Tokyo, this is the hour to come.
After class, on your own
The hour between your evening class ending and your room. This is not a scheduled meetup, just a bar in normal business, so you do not need to arrange anything with anyone. Sit down alone, order your first drink, and because the eight seats run in a single row, there is no wall between you and the next person. Koreans practicing Japanese and Japanese practicing Korean are in those seats for the same reason, so when your sentence stalls halfway, so does theirs.
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Early morning tomorrow? One drink is fine
The bar is open every day of the year, so you never have to plan which night. Early class tomorrow, one drink and home; day off tomorrow, stay until morning. Come a few times and you start recognizing the people who keep the same hours. The Korean student who sat beside you last week is talking to a different Japanese guest this week; all you have to do is join in. We run a Korean bar in Osaka, and this is exactly why we are opening the same kind of place in Tokyo.
FAQ
- Is it too late to come after an evening shift?
- No. Doors open at 9 p.m. and close at 5 a.m. Arriving at 11 p.m. or midnight still leaves plenty of time to sit.
- Is there an organized student meetup?
- No. There is no fixed date and nothing to sign up for. It is a regular bar, so come on whichever night works.
- I am on a student budget.
- The all-you-can-drink plan is 2,500 yen for one hour and includes soju and makgeolli. Staying for a single drink is fine too.
Bar information
- Name: Korean Bar HEAVEN TOKYO
- Address: GEST34 Bldg. 1F #103, 2-45-16 Kabukicho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo (3 min walk from Seibu-Shinjuku Station)
- Opening: October 23, 2026
- Hours: daily 21:00-05:00
- Seats: 8 counter seats, karaoke available
- All-you-can-drink: 2,500 yen per hour (about 80 cocktails)
- Operated by Nagaza Inc., the owners of Korean bars HEAVEN, MOON and SARANG in Higashi-Shinsaibashi, Osaka
Google Maps · Our Osaka bars HEAVEN, MOON and SARANG (same owners)