A very old izakaya

After the sunset, probably the most animated places in Japan are the izakaya, specific Japanese drinking places. Izakaya appeared long time ago, during the Edo period, as liquor shops with a few tables to sit and drink. Their name comes from that period, "i" means "to stay" and "sakaya" means "sake shop". In time, besides the drink, the izakaya also started to offer food, the grilled meat on skewers being the most popular.

Today, many izakaya are located in modern buildings, but here and there you can still find some operating in traditional buildings. Here is such a building, looking as it was during the Edo period, very well preserved inside Edo Tokyo Open Air Museum from Koganei, Tokyo.