Bar Gen Yamamoto

Bar Gen Yamamoto, a tiny ground-floor space tucked in the shadows of Tokyo’s glitzy Roppongi district, has quickly become one of the city’s most buzzed-about new craft cocktail bars. But forget what you know about the cocktail bar. There are no suspenders and mustaches, no theatrics, no indie rock or 1920s jazz—no music whatsoever. The bar, which is carved out of a 500-year-old Mizunara (Mongolian oak) tree, seats only eight and is manned by one bartender, Yamamoto, whose hyper-seasonal, almost monastic approach to drinks is illuminating a new path for Tokyo bartending. (Bar Gen Yamamoto: 港区麻布十番1-6-4アニバーサリービル1F)