La Jetée, Golden Gai.

Golden Gai's most cinephile bar.

La Jetée sits in Golden Gai's alley three, in a tiny two-storey wooden building that holds eight seats total: four downstairs at a small horseshoe bar, four upstairs accessed by the typical Golden Gai sideways staircase. The bar is named after Chris Marker's 1962 photo-roman film La Jetée, and the name reflects the bar's identity: a Tokyo bar dedicated to French and European cinema, run by a Japanese woman who has known Marker personally. Tomoyo Kawai has owned and operated La Jetée since 1996.

The walls are covered with French film posters, photographs of European directors, and a small collection of signed books. The bar pours from a back shelf of Japanese whisky with the discipline of a serious Tokyo drinking establishment. Marker himself drank here on multiple occasions before his 2012 death. The bar has photographs of his visits framed behind the bar.

Why this matters. La Jetée is the rare Golden Gai bar that combines the alley's intimate eight-seat format with a serious cultural identity that has been maintained for thirty years.

Tomoyo Kawai's selection.

Tomoyo Kawai has run La Jetée for thirty years. Her presence is the bar's continuity. She is at the bar most evenings, pouring whisky and selecting albums from a deep collection of vinyl that includes the Rolling Stones discography in full. The Stones albums rotate through the bar's small vinyl player at a rate of approximately one album per night.

Kawai's selection of music, films discussed, and conversation is the bar's defining feature. The bar pours whisky. The whisky is excellent. The bar is not the whisky. The bar is Kawai's choices about which film to discuss, which Marker letter to read aloud from the small framed collection, which Stones song to put on at midnight.

Whisky highball and a small Yamazaki.

• Suntory Yamazaki: 1500 yen. The bar's standard Japanese whisky pour.
• Whisky highball: 1200 yen. Yamazaki, soda, single ice cube, made with the Tokyo bartending discipline.
• Hibiki: 2000 yen for a small pour. The bar's premium Japanese whisky.
• Asahi: 800 yen for a 330ml bottle.
• The thing nobody knows: the bar pours a small French Calvados from a 1990s bottle that has been on the shelf since Kawai's first European trip. Order "the Calvados" and Kawai will tell you the story.

Tuesday at 10pm. The cinephile hour.

La Jetée opens at 9pm and closes at 3am. The bar holds eight people total, which means timing is critical. Tuesday at 10pm is the canonical cinephile hour: the bar is at 80% capacity but you can usually find a seat, the conversation in the room is film-focused, and Kawai has time to discuss her current favourite director.

The peak hour is Friday and Saturday from 10:30pm to 1am. The Sunday at 10pm hour is the secret slow experience: the bar may be at 50% capacity and you can hear the vinyl clearly.

The bar charges a 1500 yen seating fee, paid on arrival. The seating fee is non-negotiable and is what funds the small operation.

What the bar's namesake means.

Chris Marker, the French filmmaker who made La Jetée (1962), Sans Soleil (1983), and a long career of essay films, visited Tokyo many times across his life. He drank at La Jetée on multiple documented occasions between 2002 and 2010. The bar maintains a small collection of letters, photographs, and ephemera from his visits.

Marker's La Jetée is a 28-minute photo-roman science fiction film set in post-apocalyptic Paris, told entirely through still photographs with a single brief moving shot. The film's title means "the pier." Kawai chose the name in 1996 because Marker's film was the European film that most influenced her own decision to open a bar dedicated to European cinema.

Five thousand yen per person, two hours.

Plan for 4,500 to 6,000 yen per person for a two-hour visit. The seating charge at 1500 plus three Yamazakis at 1500 each. A pair of friends drinks for around 12,000 yen total. The bar is more expensive than most Golden Gai bars but the seat is the experience.

Cards are accepted. Tipping is not customary in Japan. The seating charge is the bar's sustainability mechanism.

Tokyo cinephiles, French expats, the Marker pilgrims.

La Jetée draws three populations. The first: Tokyo's small but committed cinephile community, including film school graduates, magazine writers, and a few directors. The second: the small French expat community in Tokyo, who treat the bar as their European film outpost. The third: the international Marker pilgrim contingent, often visiting filmmakers and graduate students.

The bar is small enough that the population is self-selecting. Walk-in tourists who do not have a serious interest in film typically leave after one drink.

How not to be the worst person at La Jetée.

• Do not bow on entry. Kawai will offer the appropriate Japanese greeting; respond in kind.
• Do not request specific Marker films for discussion without being prepared to discuss them. Kawai will engage seriously.
• Do not photograph the framed Marker letters. They are private.
• Do not request to skip the seating charge. Non-negotiable.
• Do not request music other than Kawai's selection. The vinyl is curated.
• Do not photograph other patrons. The eight-seat room is intimate.
• Do not, ever, ask if Kawai will discuss "any French film." Have a specific film in mind.

Toritake, Albatross, La Jetée, Donzoko.

The classic Golden Gai night: yakitori at Toritake at 7pm. Albatross at 9pm for the upstairs second-floor seat. La Jetée at 10:30pm for one Yamazaki and one Marker conversation. End at Donzoko in Shinjuku at midnight for the 1951 underground bar.

For more bars in the area, see our Tokyo city guide, the Albatross entry, and the Donzoko entry.

Yes. Tokyo's most committed film bar.