Cocktail Bar Near Me in Ginza: Star Bar's Ninja Ice and Classics

Star Bar Ginza opened on 14 December 2000 in the basement of MODERNS GINZA at 1-5-13 Ginza, two minutes on foot from Ginza-itchome Station. Its founder, Hisashi Kishi, became the first Japanese world champion at the IBA World Cocktail Competition in 1996, and the bar still charges a ¥1,100 cover per person. For anyone typing cocktail bar near me between Yurakucho and Kyobashi, this is the 19-seat room where ice is treated as the main ingredient.

Ginza-itchome Station on the Yurakucho Line is two minutes away, JR Yurakucho about four. A July 2026 Tabelog visitor photographed the route that matters: a staircase on the left of the building front, down to the first basement. Inside are 19 seats, nine at the counter and ten at tables. Another July guest counted two four-person tables and one for two, heard classical music, and watched four staff work the room.

Star Bar's own site calls ice one of the bar's main features and says the approach has influenced bars worldwide. The 2026 menu describes three ices. Natural ice freezes over two winter weeks at the company's facility on Mount Tateshina in Nagano. Craft ice takes five days at its own Kyoto plant, and pure ice is factory-frozen in two days. Each freezes differently, and the bar invites guests to taste how the same drink changes with each ice.

The showpiece is Ninja Ice, a hand-cut block so clear it seems to vanish once the drink is poured. It is cut with knives forged from the same steel as Japanese swords, a technique the bar says it originated. Visitors in 2026 kept describing the same moment, the cube disappearing from the side. A March guest was told the gin and tonic runs strong because the team allows for slow melting, and a July drinker found the highball strong at first.

The drinks menu, updated on Tabelog in June 2026 with tax included, opens with the Ninja Ice section. The Ninja Ice Gin and Tonic costs ¥2,500 and mixes Japanese craft gin, tonic, soda and lemon juice, and a July visitor reported Roku gin and Fever-Tree tonic. The Ninja Ice Highball with Japanese whisky and the Ninja Ice Negroni of gin, Campari and sweet vermouth are also ¥2,500.

Kishi's Sidecar, built on Hennessy, cost ¥2,600 for a July 2026 guest, who wrote that the recipe keeps being refined. Classics run lower: a Daiquiri or White Lady at ¥2,100, a Moscow Mule with ginger-infused vodka at ¥2,000 and a Mojito at ¥2,300. Seasonal fruit cocktails start from ¥2,400, and summer reviewers drank watermelon with tequila and a half salt rim, then peach under soft foam.

Two drinks tie the bar to its city. The Honeycomb at ¥2,600 mixes Haku vodka, yuzu liqueur and honey gathered in Ginza. The Sakura Aviation at ¥2,500 adds sakura liqueur to Roku gin and maraschino, and Seiko built a 2026 Presage limited-edition watch around it. Skip the Fresh Tomato Bloody Mary at ¥2,600 if you want heat, because a July reviewer found it fruity but short of spice.

Reservations go through 03-3535-8005 or Tabelog's online booking, and the rules are strict. A table is cancelled if you are 15 minutes late without calling, party size cannot change midway, and nobody is seated until everyone has arrived. Tables take four at most. Walk-ins work on quieter nights: a pair arrived at 10pm on a June weekday without waiting, and a solo guest took a counter seat at 7pm on a Sunday.

Saturdays are harder, and one May reviewer had been turned away by a full room before getting in at 9:30pm. Kishi may not be behind the bar early in the evening, as a March guest found. If the door is shut, walk to Star Bar Hibiya on the third floor of Tokyo Midtown Hibiya, 1-1-2 Yurakucho, on +81 3-6206-1560. Weekly Bunshun described it in 2018 as a 22-metre room with 20 counter seats.

Weekly Bunshun's 2018 profile gave the outline: Kishi was born in Tokyo in 1965, won the IBA world cocktail title in 1996 as the first Japanese champion, and opened Star Bar in Ginza 1-chome in 2000. He was named a Contemporary Master Craftsman in 2008, the first bartender so honoured according to Seiko, and received the Medal with Yellow Ribbon in 2014.

The official site lists him as chairman of the Japan Bartenders Association, a Tokyo Meister and principal of the Ginza Bartender School. NHK followed him for The Professionals, and more than twenty years have passed since the book Welcome to the Star Bar appeared. The group now runs four rooms, including Kyoto and Namiki, which is not members-only but opens on a limited basis, with visits arranged through Kishi himself.

Reviews from 2026 show three recurring guests. Bar-hoppers use Star Bar as a second or fourth stop, one September trio ordering one or two drinks each after dinner. Overseas visitors turn up early: at a weekday 6:30pm booking in July, both guests already seated were from abroad, and an August Tuesday guest watched two young staff chat fluently in English with foreign customers. Then come whisky drinkers, with an April visitor sipping Bowmore 15 and Ichiro's Malt bottlings priced from ¥8,000.

Sit at the counter if you want to watch the ice being cut, as a March reviewer advised. The cover brings a dish of seedless olives as the charm, and snacks stay simple, with mixed nuts at ¥1,200 and a cheese platter at ¥2,000. A solo Sunday guest stayed 40 minutes over three drinks and paid ¥8,700, while a July reservation ran about an hour.

Before opening time, G.Itoya at 2-7-15 Ginza stands about 145 metres from Ginza-itchome Station. The stationer's twelfth floor holds Cafe Stylo, open daily from 11:30am and cooking with vegetables grown on the eleventh-floor farm. Afterwards, the sister room in Tokyo Midtown Hibiya makes a two-bar night comparing both Star Bar counters easy. The Hibiya room also pours Park Life, a green vodka and matcha cocktail Precious reported in 2018 as unavailable in Ginza.

The address is MODERNS GINZA B1F, 1-5-13 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061, and the phone number is +81 3-3535-8005. The Tabelog listing the bar manages as a corporate member gives hours of 5pm to 11:30pm every day, public holidays included, and a July 2026 visitor praised it as one of few Ginza bars open on Sundays. All seats are non-smoking, an English menu is available, and staff speak English and Korean.

Cards accepted are Visa, Mastercard, JCB, American Express, Diners and UnionPay, while Tabelog lists electronic money and QR payments as not accepted. Menu prices include tax, and the ¥1,100 cover applies to every guest. Free Wi-Fi helps because signal in the basement is weak. The bar is reached by a staircase, there are no private rooms or buyouts, and paid parking sits within two minutes.