Nihonbashi Turns Into a Citywide Sake Walk for the 10th Year on April 25

The 10th edition of the Nihonbashi Sake Kiki-Aruki — a "tasting walk" through one of Tokyo's oldest merchant districts — returns on Saturday, April 25, 2026. Around 50 sake breweries from across Japan will pour at participating shops and restaurants scattered across Ningyocho, Muromachi, Odenma-cho, Horidome-cho, and Bakuro-cho. The event is organized by the Nihonbashi Sake Project, with Sasaki Sake Shop (Shinkawaya) in Ningyocho serving as the main hub.

Instead of setting up a single festival tent, the whole neighborhood functions as the venue. Ticket holders wander shop to shop with a small tasting cup, pouring their way through the district. Recent editions have each drawn around 7,000 visitors, and this year's 10th-anniversary program layers on more than 40 side events.

A street-level festival, not a hall

The walk runs from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on April 25. Tickets are ¥4,500 in advance and ¥5,000 on the day, with all sake included (food is priced separately, typically ¥500–¥1,000 per dish). Three check-in points are set up: Sasaki Sake Shop (Ningyocho 2-20-3), Dahlia Shokudo (Odenma-cho 2-9), and Fukutoku no Mori (Muromachi 2-5-10). Advance ticket holders can check in from 12:30 p.m., while same-day tickets are sold between 2:00 and 3:30 p.m.

Each participant gets a sake-tasting ochoko (a small cup) and plans their own route through the shops. Brewery owners and toji (head brewers) are often stationed at the venues their sake is pouring at, so you can talk to the people behind the bottles as you drink.

Old shops, a boat, and 40+ side events

The 10th edition expands well beyond the participating restaurants. A furumai-zake (complimentary sake) corner has been enlarged, and three sukima-bar pop-ups appear in gaps around the district: at Fukutoku no Mori (hosting a live warm-sake session called Kanzake Live), Coredo Naka-dori, and inside the Horidome Park Marche. A pour is normally ¥500 there, but it's free for Kiki-Aruki ticket holders.

The Nihonbashi touch shows up in collaborations with the district's long-running specialty shops. Ninben (katsuobushi, dried bonito flakes) and Yagicho Honten (kombu seaweed) are giving out free dashi stock while supplies last. Ichimasu Tagen, a kimono merchant founded in 1816, joins in with kimono and homeware sales. ROJI Nihonbashi, a canned-seafood bar, is running a free gacha draw for its kanzume snacks.

Fitting for a district built along old canals, Funayu Mizuha is offering on-board sake tastings via small boat. Two other events on the same day — the Horidome Park Marche and the Nihonbashi Sukima-ichi — overlap the tasting walk, so sake, food, and craft vendors all spill into the streets at once.

Full matchups of participating shops, breweries, and menus are posted on the organizer's blog (https://blog.sasas.jp/event/ka20260425kumi.html), with the related side-event list on a separate page (https://blog.sasas.jp/event/ka20260425shopevent.html).

Tickets and access

Tickets are sold through e+ (https://eplus.jp/sf/detail/4490460001-P0030001), at the Nihonbashi Information Center (Coredo Muromachi 1, B1F), Sasaki Sake Shop, and a handful of participating venues. Physical shops are cash only, and same-day tickets can sell out, so advance purchase is the safer bet.

A Saturday afternoon in one of Tokyo's oldest neighborhoods, sipping your way through 50 breweries — it's a different kind of sake event, and one worth watching as it heads into its second decade.