TTokyo

Who cares about finding “the next hidden gem,” tell me about your favorite places that are no longer with us (RIP)

  • October 15, 2025


You know you’re getting old when you open Google Maps and half of your pins are either “permanently closed” or a jumble of random coordinates.

by Fable_and_Fire

46 comments

  3. The Legend of the Galactic Heroes themed cafe (Iserlohn Cafe), probably the best anime collab thing I’ve experienced because it was marketed entirely to fans of a dry as hell anime and novel series from the 1980s so you could just sit and listen to spacey music and eat some really odd themed dishes in an environment based on age of sail + sci Fi aesthetics.

    Exquisite vibes.

  4. The rainbow pool at Showa Park. The only really affordable pool that you could just play in. 

  5. So many fun music venues. Shibuya Vision, Shinjuku Blaze… victims of old buildings being torn down for big new ones

  6. The Nintendo *BAR*??? Oh man, I wish I didn’t know what I missed.

    And to contribute to that: there was small soba shop in Ikebukuro that used to sell lemon soba that were *INSANE*. Unfortunately the whole building was taken down and I don’t think the owner moved (at least I couldn’t find anything). I tried a whole bunch of restaurants serving lemon soba, but none of them were as good.

    Hhhaaaa those lost flavors…

  7. Dear god Tokyu hands in ikebukuro. I still catch myself planning to pick something up there only to remember it’s gone. Mega Web and History Garage are gone now too, and I don’t know where to take my car bros who visit from overseas anymore.

  11. Blu Jam restaurant was amazing.

    Also, why the hell is Gaspanic here lol. That place is the only place I’ve ever heard that has consistent drink spiking.

  12. Crows forest in Shimabshi. Was one of the most kicking dancing bars in the city. Always full of salaryman and OLs dancing to 70s funk and all drinks only 500yen. I miss that place, so many great bad idea nights started there.

  14. Managed to visit Kawasaki Warehouse in 2017, a recreation of Kowloon Walled City complete with trash shipped over from Hong Kong.

  17. でんでんタウン。 Places like the old Radiokan building have been replaced, a lot of smaller stores were replaced by the UDX complex, and a lot of the old stores to find cheap electronics or obscure antique toys. I loved having locals take me there to show me around for occasional shopping trips. But now it’s all touristy and clean.

  20. Noooo not gas panic! I can still feel the epically sticky floors while trying to drinking shuffle around. Blech. 
    Oh man some of mine have already been listed but I’ll say the original Shinjuku Marz live house and all the alternative events that went on there. Also Christian cafe and OG trump room. 

    Kinji before all tourists discovered it. 

    Old Harajuku before it turned into *gestures broadly * at whatever the fuck it is now in most areas.  
    There’s some others I can’t think of right now but I morn when I do. 

  23. RIP AgeHa.

    Jokingly, RIP Feria and the sheer amount international bankers and such getting roofied in Ropppongi like it was an initiation ritual.

  24. Brew La La in Shimbashi. Tech guy from Canada who didn’t speak Japanese opened a craft beer bar with a food menu focused on grilled cheese sandwiches. I honestly thought he was crazy, but it turned out great. Good beer selection at a reasonable price point, the sandwiches turned out great (worth the trip on their own), nice staff, the layout was big and open in a way that encouraged socializing, and the location was conveniently right between the offices of all my friends. And of course, the shuffleboard table!

    It closed suddenly and without warning at the end of 2018. Some people suspected his lack of Japanese ability extended to paying for taxes and permits, and he took off before shit got real.

  25. Oedo Onsen

    Oath (the old one)

    PiaPia a dank bar in Shimokita (it’s been a decade and I still mourn their Udon salada)

    Hara Donuts (also Shimo)

  27. MACHIDA SEALS

    It was a Navy Seals/military themed airsoft bar with amazing food and a shooting range. I’m not even into airsoft but I’ve shot a few different pistols and rifles in my day. They had a selection of true to form airsoft weapons, darts and a full service restaurant. 

    While you would assume it to be a JGSDF or US military hangout, it attracted so many curious people passing by that it was a novelty of Machida in itself. Unfortunately, it didn’t survive COVID. 

  36. An old school retro arcade in Kawasaki I think. Had a worn down asthetic, I think they closed down right before covid. 

  37. Most of the little electronics and computer parts stores in Akihabara. Also Star Kebab. I think Akihabara has really changed for the worse since I came here in 2006.

  38. Amate Raxi

    Miyashita Park

    Countless game centers and classic slot arcades

    Keikyu’s pre-October 2022 train schedule

    Hi no Kuni (Delicious Kumamoto ramen shop in Machida, thr owner went back home to support family and community after the 2016 quake Good on him.)

  40. I miss the yokocho bars of Shimokitazawa. That was basically a shanty town. I was there for all my birthdays in the early 2000s. The only toilet was a communal hole in the ground in an outhouse. 

    Also, the “kingyo “ new half theater in Roppongi 

  41. I miss when game centers had games. No, I will not gamble on a claw machine for a chance to win a vinyl statue of a big tiddy anime girl without a nose. I want to play Parodius god damn it.

  43. Green Land in Roppongi, cupboard of a basement bar done up to look like a jungle, stuffed leopard in a perspex box for a table, 19:00-23:30 on weeknight was nomihoudai for ¥1,000. Absolutely spectacular dive.

  45. The Lockup Shibuya counts, right ? (not really a “favorite” place, the food sucked hard, but it was a good place to bring visitors 15 years ago)

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