Shinbashi Grand Hammer

The Shinbashi area (sometimes “Shimbashi”) has a reputation as being somewhat bland, and many travelers see the neighborhood as one of grey office buildings – good for train transfers, before you head off to visit somewhere more interesting. To locals, however, Shinbashi is anything but boring. During the day, it’s a great escape from the crowds and high prices of Ginza, the shopping paradise that shares a border with Shinbashi. At night, the office workers who fill the tall buildings day after day spill out onto the streets, and Shinbashi has responded with some of the city’s best dining and drinking options after dark.

Shinbashi Grand Hammer is the newest big addition to the Shinbashi neighborhood, and the 9-floor facility is a perfect example of why the area might be Tokyo’s best-kept secret. Open 24/7, Grand Hammer is packed with food, entertainment, and even relaxation options for every hour of the day. The flashy glowing building contains 20 different businesses, maintaining a good balance between genuine Japanese traditions and kitschy over-the-top fun, with restaurants, bars, live entertainment, and unique Japanese cultural experiences. Even the interior decoration is so striking that it’s tempting to just go in and take pictures (entry is totally free, so you can look around as much as you want). Plus, Grand Hammer is still flying under the radar after its recent opening in November 2024, which means crowds (and wait times) are at a minimum, even without reservations. You won’t want to miss this new Tokyo hotspot – check out some of our favorite Grand Hammer highlights, and add it to your travel itinerary before everyone else does!

Shinbashi Grand Hammer (新橋グランハマー)
2-8-5 Shinbashi, Minato City, Tokyo
Open 24/7 (individual business hours may vary)
Official Website (jp)

Dining Meets Entertainment: Meet Geishas, Divers, and Traditional Bands

Grand Hammer has taken the concept of “dinner and a show” and run with it, offering some of Tokyo’s best new options for dining, entertainment, and a combination of the two. One of the most unique examples of this is also the most traditional: at Benitsuya (6F), diners can experience a meal with real Tokyo geishas. Genuine geishas are elite entertainers, accomplished performers, and entertaining conversationalists, and at Benitsuya each and every diner gets a chance to chat with these traditional artisans during their meal. Of course, to complete the experience, food options include truly luxurious platters of Japanese cuisine, including fresh sashimi and wagyu beef, and drinks like rare Japanese sake and whiskey. After the food is served and everyone is settled in, the geishas perform traditional dances on stage, before finishing off the experience with Japan’s most traditional party games. Win or lose, there’s nothing like competing against a glamorous geisha in full makeup and kimono!

▶︎ Benitsuya welcomes guests 3 times a day: 17:00~ / 19:00~ / 21:00~

Down in the building’s basement, the stylishly sophisticated Amajoh allows diners to “dive into” a part of Japanese culture that’s not quite as glamorous as geisha, but no less fascinating. Japan’s female “ama” divers have been plunging themselves into cold ocean waters to hand-catch seafood (and sometimes even pearls) for over 2,000 years, and although this ancient career has been dwindling away in recent years, Amajoh aims to support these sustainable divers. The restaurant offers diners a unique window onto ama culture, with interiors inspired by an ama’s seaside hut, and some pretty spectacular food as well. The menu includes extremely reasonably priced options for high-quality seafood shabu-shabu hot-pot (don’t miss the clams and rock lobster) along with wagyu beef yakiniku barbecue (so delicate it melts in your mouth), which come with unlimited fresh vegetables. But the real stars of the show are the ama divers themselves, who dive in the enormous tank at the center of the restaurant every night, before answering questions from curious diners. If you’re hungry for both fresh Japanese delicacies and rare glimpses of Japanese culture, this is the place to go.

▶︎ Amajo freediving demonstrations: 17:30 – 22:30 (every 30 minutes)

Visitors looking for more casual dining options will find everything they could dream of on the first and second floors of Grand Hammer, which together make up the “Shinbashi Yokocho.” Designed to bring to mind busy watering holes hidden along narrow alleys and lively night markets with endless food options, each floor offers a handful of different menus to choose from, with one large shared seating space. On the first floor you’ll find Japanese food from throughout the country, from izakaya classics like fresh sashimi, to more regional specialties like Osaka’s mouth-watering fried kushikatsu. Up on the second floor, the inspiration comes from all over Asia, and the menu includes Korean, Thai, and Chinese dishes. If you’re not sure what to order, just ask a waiter to give you some tips.

The Shinbashi Yokocho floors are also a great place to spot Grand Hammer’s unique “nightly festivals”, like a roving band complete with a taiko drum, a shamisen, and a Japanese flute. The trio roams the building spreading Japanese festival spirit, stopping at key spots to perform some impressive solos! Depending on the night, you might spot these traditional musicians, or you might catch some other festive Japanese traditions, like Awa Odori dance, lion dances, or an oiran courtesan procession.

Japan After Dark: Live Shows, Drinks, and Arcade Games

Interested in Shinbashi nightlife? The Grand Tokyo is Grand Hammer’s very own theater, on the building’s 3rd floor, and the stage – with its distinct runway – hosts a variety of acts. Check the schedule for jazz nights (every Tuesday) and other live music, or grab a seat at the Thursday variety show, “Hammer the Jumble.” Produced by America’s Got Talent winner Kenichi Ebina, this weekly show features dancers, musicians, and more – when the Japankuru team visited, we caught a kendama performer, a uniquely talented contortionist, and even a performance from Kenichi Ebina himself. If you haven’t gotten dinner in one of the other Grand Hammer restaurants, you can order food at your table, but we particularly recommend sipping some of the fancy cocktails, like one made with sansho pepper, while you enjoy the show.

^{top: HAMACLUB / bottom: HAMACOM}

If you’d rather chat with your friends than watch a show, Grand Hammer has a handful of bars including the HAMACLUB (5F), which has already caused a bit of a buzz by lining the walls with crane games filled with tempting anime merch. Grab a drink, request your favorite club banger with the DJ, and try your best to bring home a stuffed Satoru Gojo toy – or whatever fun item is in stock when you arrive. If singing your heart out is more your style, head to the luxury karaoke rooms up at HAMACOM (6F) to belt Japanese tunes in beautifully lit spaces decorated with themes like Mt. Fuji or sumo wrestlers.

Tokyo-Style Leisure: Rickshaws, Matcha, and Weightless Relaxation

Tokyo is such a bustling city that it can sometimes feel impossible to find a quiet place to relax, or a spot to just sit back and enjoy the view. For times like that, Grand Hammer has some unique options, starting with Tatami (8F). Warmly lit and lined with green tatami reed mats, the menu at this quiet cafe/bar is focused on Japanese refreshments, from day to night. In the evening, most guests arrive looking for the selection of popular Japanese sake brews, or the handful of Japanese whiskeys. In the afternoon, we wholeheartedly recommend selecting an option from the cafe menu of matcha and sweets – Tatami is a much more relaxing alternative to some of the popular Ginza cafes with hour-long wait times.

For a more intense form of relaxation, perfect for days when your muscles ache from another 30,000 steps exploring Tokyo, O2 Plage (7F) is the place to go. Intended to “revitalize both the body and the mind,” the facility has private sauna rooms (perfect for couples), private resting rooms with comfortable sofas and showers, and a massage chair area, which was a favorite for the Japankuru team. At O2 Plage, these aren’t your average massage chairs – not only do they reach from your head out to your arms, and all the way down to the bottoms of your feet, but the chairs themselves also have “zero gravity” options that roll the seat back so it feels like you’re floating, or even rocking gently in a cradle. In addition, each chair comes with a source of high-concentration oxygen (O2) for you to breathe in as you relax, so you return to your Tokyo adventure feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.

Grand Hammer’s most exciting relaxation option is likely to get your heart racing even as you lounge comfortably in your seat, because visitors can now hire a Tokyo Rickshaw from directly in front of the building! This traditional Japanese form of transportation is still alive in certain parts of Tokyo, although most sightseers never think to hop on in an area like Shinbashi – but flying down the streets in the cozy seat of a classic Japanese rickshaw, looking out at glass-sided office buildings and busy train tracks, is really the perfect way to capture Japan’s wonderful mix of ancient and modern culture. Go on a quick loop of Shinbashi to see the brightly lit bars under the train tracks and learn about local history, or take a longer trip to snap some great pictures in the shadow of Tokyo Tower! You can also just give the “driver” a time (often 30-45 minutes) and leave the route up to them, to see where they take you. If you’ve spent the day at Grand Hammer and you’re ready to head to your next Tokyo destination, the rickshaw drivers might recommend a ride all the way to Asakusa, a unique route that takes about 45 minutes and passes through interesting spots like Akihabara and Ueno on the way. You can even ask them to take you back to your hotel. Who needs taxis when you can call a rickshaw instead!?

Add Tokyo’s Most Unique Dining Experiences to Your Trip to Japan!

Shinbashi might be a convenient transportation hub next to Ginza and near Tokyo Station, but it’s also one of Tokyo’s hidden gems, and Grand Hammer is the new crown jewel. Offering opportunities to dine with geisha or see ama divers in action right before your eyes, this new facility has some of Tokyo’s most unique new dining and entertainment experiences, and we haven’t even mentioned every business in the building! Add Shinbashi Grand Hammer to your Tokyo itinerary, and whichever floor you end up on, you’ll find unforgettable memories to bring home from Japan.

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