Nihonshu Genka Sakagura Ueno-Okachimachi: A Cost-Price Sake Bar Near Me

Nihonshu Genka Sakagura charges ¥540 to walk in and then sells sake close to what it paid for it. At the Ueno-Okachimachi branch in the Yokohama Building, 3-20-7 Ueno, Taito-ku, two minutes from the south exit of JR Okachimachi Station, Dassai Migaki 45 costs ¥430 and Aramasa No.6 R-Type ¥560 for a 100 ml bottle. Weekdays open at 15:00. It is the cheapest sake bar near me answer around Ueno.

Genka means cost price, and the chain's founding story says exactly that: it began serving sake at cost because the founders wanted more people to drink good sake without worrying about the bill. The operator is Billion Foods, a Roppongi company founded in March 2012 and led by chief executive Yuto Nakamura, according to its own press release on PR Times in May 2026.

The model has spread fast. Gurunavi's listing notes that as of October 2025 the brand ran 18 shops across the Tokyo area, and the Ueno-Okachimachi branch sits between the Ueno shopping streets and the Ameyoko market. The trade-off is simple: you pay a fixed entry fee, then the margin on each pour stays thin, so the more you taste, the better the deal.

Every guest pays an entry fee of ¥540 including tax, and members of the chain's app get ¥110 off it, per the official Q&A page. Sake arrives in the house's own 100 ml glass bottles, so you can line up three or four labels in front of you and compare them without anyone pouring for you. It turns the table into a small tasting flight.

Read the October price list on the official site for the famous names. Dassai Migaki 45 is ¥430, Aramasa No.6 R-Type is ¥560, and Juyondai starts at ¥390 when the bar has it. Those are bar prices that would buy barely a sip elsewhere in Tokyo. The list holds more than 50 sakes, and the fridge is open to view, so you can point at a label rather than read the menu.

The calendar matters here more than at most bars. Juyondai days fall on the first and fourth Monday of each month, and Aramasa days fall on every date ending in six, so the 6th, 16th and 26th. The chain announces these days as the times its two most-requested breweries are featured. If you want Juyondai at all, plan around those Mondays.

Two Sundays this autumn open early. The shop page lists 25 October and 15 November as 14:00 openings instead of the usual noon on weekends. Ordinary hours are 15:00 to 23:30 on weekdays and 12:00 to 23:30 on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, with food last order at 22:30 and drinks at 23:00. Gurunavi lists no regular closing day.

The headline offer is unlimited-time, all-you-can-drink sake for members of the app, which you can join on the day. The chain's news page, dated 16 October 2026, sets the November price at this branch at ¥1,380 from Sunday to Thursday and ¥1,930 on Fridays, Saturdays and nights before holidays. The plan page also lists a ¥540 charge per person and asks each guest to order at least two dishes.

Here is the honest maths. If you plan two or three bottles and then go home, skip the plan: ¥540 in, plus two Dassai at ¥430, comes to ¥1,400 for a short visit. The plan pays off once you settle in for a long night of comparing, on a weekday, with friends who will share the dishes. Note that when the room is busy, seating can run on a two-hour limit with last order 30 minutes before the end.

The kitchen leans on sake byproducts and shellfish broth. Shuto cheese, cream cheese topped with salty fermented bonito guts, is ¥540 on Gurunavi's menu and works as a sharp first bite with a dry junmai. The oden platter, simmered in a shellfish dashi made with junmai sake, is ¥1,200 and is the one to share on a cold evening.

Sake-kasu pizza, using the lees left over from pressing sake, is ¥980 and a good example of the chain's cheerful style rather than refined cooking. Draft beer is ¥540 if someone in the group is not a sake drinker. Order your two dishes early if you are on the unlimited plan, since the two-dish rule applies from the start of the plan.

Gurunavi lists 115 seats, including counter seats and semi-private rooms, which gives larger groups a real chance with a booking. The whole shop is non-smoking, children are welcome, and payment works by cash, card or PayPay. Book through the official reservation pages; Gurunavi warns that a no-show on a seat-only booking costs ¥4,000 per person, so cancel properly if plans change.

The official phone number for the branch is 050-5786-7613. A weekday visit soon after the 15:00 opening is the gentlest time to try it. Friday nights and Aramasa days are the times to book ahead. If this branch is full, the chain's Kanda shop at 2-8-5 Uchikanda, Chiyoda-ku, runs the same cost-price list a few stops south.

The obvious walk is Ameyoko, the market street running under the JR tracks between Okachimachi and Ueno stations, listed by the city's GO TOKYO guide at 6-10-7 Ueno. Walk it from the south end near Okachimachi up towards Ueno in the late afternoon, when the dried-fish stalls and fruit stands are still busy, and then double back to the bar for the evening.

From Ueno-hirokoji Station on the Ginza Line, use Exit A1 and walk about four minutes. That makes the bar an easy finish to a day at Ueno Park's museums: leave the park by the south side, cut through the market, and you reach the Yokohama Building in under fifteen minutes on foot.

Address: 3-20-7 Ueno, Taito-ku, Tokyo, in the Yokohama Building. The official shop page puts it two minutes on foot from the south exit of JR Okachimachi Station. Phone 050-5786-7613. Hours: weekdays 15:00 to 23:30, weekends and holidays 12:00 to 23:30. Entry ¥540, app members ¥110 off. Dassai Migaki 45 ¥430, Aramasa No.6 R-Type ¥560 per 100 ml. November unlimited plan ¥1,380 Sunday to Thursday. Non-smoking, with cash, card and PayPay accepted.