Get to Know the Person Next to You
In Shimokitazawa — picture a Park Slope, Brooklyn, neighborhood in Tokyo — the legendary dive bar Eat a Peach has been serving up drinks and rock 'n' roll on request for 35 years. With walls plastered in a psychedelic peach-pink motif and speakers tucked into the ceiling, patrons become fast friends at a counter that's just big enough for eight. On weekends, the cavelike space overflows with people, while everything from glam to Japanese rock competes with the sound of the trains passing just meters away. Upstairs, sister bar Troubled Peach, which opened in 1981, seats more, with a few wide tables along a wall that looks like it's made of corrugated cardboard, lined floor to ceiling with the owner's collection of vinyl and covers frayed white from years of use. Open daily, 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.
— By Coco Masters