Sake stanD Rin: A Standing Sake Bar Near Me in Nishi-Shinjuku

Sake stanD Rin prices its sake by the colour of the label. The standing bar on the ground floor of the Takara Building, 1-4-11 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, two minutes from Shinjuku-nishiguchi Station on the Oedo Line, keeps about 100 labels. A purple pour is ¥380 for 60 ml and a gold one ¥980. It opens at 17:00 on weekdays and 14:00 at weekends. For a sake bar near me by Shinjuku West Exit, start here.

Rin is young. Its Tabelog page, archived in February 2026, gives the opening date as 8 January 2025. Gurunavi's listing adds the backstory that the room inherits the history of an old bar that locals loved for 35 years, which explains why a brand-new shop already feels settled into its corner of the West Exit streets rather than like a fresh fit-out.

Two sister shops share the Takara Building: the robatayaki grills Robata Sho and Robata Yui. That connection shows in the kitchen, which sends out proper cooked food instead of only dry snacks. The bar's own theme is sound and sake, and guests can request music, so the evening's soundtrack depends partly on who is standing at the counter. The official site posted a new drinks menu on 11 September 2026.

The name Rin is written with the kanji 凛, which means cool, crisp and dignified, a fair match for a bar that sells sake in tidy 60 ml measures. On 29 June 2026 the bar posted a change to its weekday hours, and the current schedule on the official site is the 17:00 weekday start, which suits office workers walking out of the towers west of the station.

The system is easy to read once you know the four colours. On the drinks list posted through Gurunavi, a purple-label sake is ¥380 for 60 ml or ¥760 for 120 ml. Blue is ¥480 or ¥960, red is ¥680 or ¥1,260, and gold is ¥980 or ¥1,760. Every bottle in the fridge wears one of those colours, so you choose by budget first and by brewery second.

The 60 ml size is the reason to come. Three purple pours at 60 ml come to ¥1,140, enough to compare three breweries side by side before committing to a full 120 ml glass of the one you liked. The official site says about 100 sakes are on hand at any time and names eight liquor shops it buys from, including Hanadaya Saketen and Aji no Machidaya, so the list follows what those shops are bringing in.

The menu on the official site in 2026 is short but specific. Fugu curry, made with pufferfish, is ¥1,280 and is the most unusual plate on the list. Motsu nikomi, offal stewed with sake lees from the Matsunokotobuki brewery, is ¥500 and the obvious partner for a warm cup. Two pieces of wild-caught fish sashimi cost ¥300, a small plate built for one person at a counter.

Non-sake drinkers are covered too. Craft beer is ¥800 and a fresh lemon sour is ¥480. The honest judgment is that the curry is a meal, not a snack, so do not order it at the start if you plan to work through several pours. Have the sashimi and the motsu first, drink, and then decide whether you still want a bowl before the 23:00 food last order.

Gurunavi lists room for 18 people, all standing, so this is not a place to settle in for three hours with a big group. Two or three friends fit easily along the counter, while a party of eight will fill a third of the room. The whole bar is non-smoking according to Tabelog, and payment works by cash, card or PayPay, as the official site states.

Reservations are accepted, including through the web, which is unusual for a standing bar and worth using on a Friday. The official phone line is 050-5448-6292. Weekday hours are 17:00 to 24:00, with food last order at 23:00 and drinks at 23:30; Saturday, Sunday and holidays start earlier, from 14:00. Closing days are irregular, so watch the news page.

Rin runs themed brewery nights. On 5 September 2026 it held a Yukinomayu night with a five-sake comparison set at ¥4,000, according to its Gurunavi event page. These nights are the best way to understand one brewery's range in a single sitting, and they suit a standing bar because nobody expects to stay longer than the flight takes.

The weekend opening at 14:00 is the other trick. A Saturday afternoon visit, before the after-work crowd arrives, gives you counter space, time to ask about labels, and a choice of music. If Rin is full, Nihonshu Genka Sakagura's Shinjuku branch is in the basement of the TH Nishi-Shinjuku Building at 7-2-5 Nishi-Shinjuku and sells sake close to cost after an entry fee.

Check which brewery is featured before you go, because the five-sake sets are priced as a whole rather than by colour. A regular night is cheaper per sip, but a themed flight lines up one brewery's range in a single row, which is hard to assemble by ordering pour by pour from the fridge.

Omoide Yokocho, the lane of tiny grill bars beside the JR tracks at 1-2 Nishi-Shinjuku, is a few minutes away and works as a first stop for yakitori before you move on to Rin for sake. Arrive early in the evening, because its counters are even smaller than Rin's and most seat only a handful of people each.

For a view, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building at 2-8-1 Nishi-Shinjuku has free observation decks open from 9:30 to 22:00, according to the GO TOKYO guide. Go up at dusk, look east over the towers of Shinjuku, then walk back through the office district to the Takara Building. The whole loop takes under an hour before the bar's weekday 17:00 opening.

Address: 1-4-11 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, ground floor of the Takara Building. The bar's own site puts it four minutes on foot from the west exit of Shinjuku Station. Phone 050-5448-6292. Hours: weekdays 17:00 to 24:00, weekends and holidays 14:00 to 24:00, irregular closing days. Standing only, 18 places. Sake by colour: purple ¥380, blue ¥480, red ¥680, gold ¥980 per 60 ml. Cash, card and PayPay accepted.