Akitaya is no gourmet dining destination. The food is basic, the sake cheap. Clouds of oily smoke billow out from a blackened, grease-encrusted charcoal grill onto the sidewalk, where customers huddle around tables fashioned from upturned beer crates.
This battered izakaya, which has stood on the main drag in Hamamatsucho for half a century, is the antithesis of all things hip and fashionable. But nowhere in Tokyo better symbolizes the enduring popularity of tachi-nomi -- literally ¡°drinking while standing¡± -- and the remarkable resurgence of this tradition over the past few years.
Some of the local customers at Akitaya have been drinking there almost as long as it¡¯s been open, standing outside winter or summer, rain or shine. Asked why, one spry gentleman who gave his age as 70, just says, ¡°The beer goes down more easily when you¡¯re standing chatting.¡±
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