Cafe Bar TRAX, Shimbashi: whisky and the trains at sunset
Work had been relentless and I had been counting the days to Tokyo. Not a business trip: a few days away, avoiding the crowds, seeing only good rooms. Tokyo is best alone.
One place was on the list before I left. I follow an Instagram account, editor_dongwon, that curates quiet, well-made spaces in Tokyo, and I had seen the cafe bar TRAX at the Dai-ichi Hotel in Shimbashi there. This time I made the hours work.
Before you go
| Item | Notes |
|---|---|
| Hours | Tea time 15:00 to 17:00, bar time 17:00 to 23:30. Arrive around 16:00 and you get both, plus the sunset |
| What I had | A Glenfiddich 12 and a plate of mixed olives, since I had dinner plans. The whisky list is standard hotel-bar; for serious whisky, go to a malt bar |
| Getting there | JR Shimbashi station connects to the hotel by underground passage, so no umbrella on a rainy day. The bar is on the 2nd floor of the hotel |
| Japanese name | カフェバー トラックス, 第一ホテル東京 |
Between two Shimbashis
Shimbashi is a neighborhood with a split personality. Into the alleys, it is the salaryman’s drinking district, yakitori and skewers and sake bars packed along narrow lanes. One block over, the office towers of Shiodome begin. The Dai-ichi Hotel stands exactly between the two.
Step inside and the tone shifts. The hotel opened in 1938, one of the oldest luxury hotels in Tokyo, counted before the war alongside the Imperial and the Sanno as the city’s big three. It was rebuilt as a 21-storey tower in 1993 under the theme of elegance and excellence, and the lobby carries that: Italian landscape murals, a coffered ceiling with lights set into square boxes, classic European hotel style handled without heaviness. You do not see this in Korean hotels. It is a little dated, honestly, but it has earned the right, and the marble, the white interior, the grand lobby and the very important-looking people made it feel like somewhere particular.
Why it is called TRAX
I was shown to a seat by the glass wall, and as soon as I looked out the name made sense. TRAX is tracks. Shimbashi station is next door, and the shinkansen, the Yamanote line, the Keihin-Tohoku and the Tokaido line pass without pause, all in one frame. Photos and video do not do it justice. Trains on the viaduct and the people moving under them, the city’s arteries flowing in front of you. The building opposite, for the record, is a dental clinic; after enough trips to Japan the kanji start to read themselves.
The chairs are cream leather wingbacks, the ceiling is wood panels with porthole lights, and there is framed art on the walls. Heavy enough that a man in his thirties felt slightly out of place. The guests were almost all older, distinguished-looking Japanese men in suits, spaced well apart and talking quietly. On a weekday afternoon I was the youngest person in the room. It did not matter; the view took all of my attention.
Sit still and watch the glass and an hour disappears. The scene never stops moving, and for thinking there is no better seat. For a repeat visitor to Tokyo who wants good rooms rather than famous ones, this is the answer. The tables are far apart, so nobody’s conversation reaches you, and the whole room is designed for the table you are at and the moment you are in. It is the opposite of the space-saving Tokyo of narrow everything, and that was the point of coming.
A whisky and the changeover
I ordered a Glenfiddich 12 and the mixed olives. A quick note on the whisky: sherry and bourbon cask, not old, but with clean sweetness and citrus rising together. It is the safe hotel-bar choice; to drink whisky properly you go to a malt bar or a vintage bottle bar, and I will write those up separately. As a solid glass to sip while watching trains, it did its job. The olives, salty against the sweetness, were the right partner. One bite, one train, one sip.
Until the day before I had been buried in work, and sitting there breathing out slowly was as close to happiness as the trip got. I stayed an hour.
The best part was the changeover. I went in around four. At exactly five a member of staff quietly swapped the menus for the bar menu, the room darkened a shade, and outside the sun began to go down. That hour, when the lightness of tea time and the weight of bar time overlap, is the best time in the place. As I stood up I looked back at the bar counter: a wall of whisky bottles backlit warm, with the Shimbashi sunset coming through the glass beside it. The camera did not get it. Next time I will come for bar time on purpose, and bring a friend who works in Tokyo.
I’d recommend it to anyone in Ginza or Shimbashi who is bored by the places tourists go, to anyone on a second or third Tokyo trip looking for quiet, well-made rooms, and to people in Tokyo on business who need somewhere between meetings where a laptop does not look strange and the seats are far enough apart to think.
My rating: 5/5. Next Tokyo trip, without question.