Ebisu: Tokyo's Neighbourhood of Beer, Art and Fine Dining

Ebisu is one of Tokyo's most pleasant and complete residential and commercial neighbourhoods, a district in Shibuya Ward that takes its name from the beer brand whose enormous Yebisu brewery operated here until 1988 — the brewery's transformation into a retail, museum, and entertainment complex has given the neighbourhood one of its most distinctive landmarks. Yebisu Garden Place, built on the former brewery site, contains the Yebisu Beer Museum, the Museum of Photography (one of Japan's most important photography institutions), several restaurants, and a European-flavoured outdoor plaza that makes the complex one of Tokyo's most pleasant weekend destinations.

The residential character of Ebisu gives the neighbourhood a feeling of completion — of a place where Tokyo life is actually lived — that more purely commercial districts lack. The streets between Ebisu Station and the garden place are lined with upscale restaurants, wine bars, and specialist food shops that cater to a resident population of young professionals, foreign diplomats, and creative industry workers who have settled here for the combination of proximity to Shibuya and quiet residential character. The cluster of Michelin-starred restaurants around Ebisu is among the densest in Tokyo outside the major hotels, reflecting the spending power of the residential population.

The Tokyo Photographic Art Museum at Yebisu Garden Place is one of Japan's foremost photography and film venues, with rotating exhibitions spanning documentary, fine art, and experimental photography from Japanese and international practitioners. The walk from Ebisu through Daikanyama to Nakameguro (about 15 minutes) along the residential streets passes through three distinct neighbourhood characters and is one of the most pleasant urban walks in Tokyo's inner west. Ebisu Station on the JR Yamanote Line and the Hibiya subway line provides easy access from Shibuya (2 minutes) and Shinjuku (9 minutes).