Best Sports Bars in Tokyo

The flagship of Japan's most trusted sports bar chain, and by some distance its best individual branch. The Hub Roppongi has 32 screens across 3 floors, showing Premier League, Champions League, NFL, NBA, and Nippon Professional Baseball simultaneously on different levels. The draft beer selection runs to 8 taps including Asahi Super Dry, Sapporo Classic, and Guinness. The English-speaking staff and bilingual menus make this the most accessible sports viewing experience in Tokyo for international visitors. The 16-seat private viewing booths can be reserved for major games and come with a food and drinks package. The kitchen serves until 2am and the full English breakfast at weekends is not an accident.

The British pub that Tokyo's expat community rallied around long before sports bars became fashionable in the city. Four floors in a wooden building on Rooftop Street in Ebisu, with 12 screens and a real commitment to showing English football at the correct time, which in Tokyo means some very early mornings. The cask ale selection is the most serious in Japan, and the landlord personally sources two guest ales per week from UK microbreweries.

The most American sports bar in Tokyo, which is exactly what it intends to be. Legends has the best NFL coverage in Japan, opening at 7am on Sunday mornings during the season for the early East Coast kickoffs. The American craft beer imports are the most comprehensive in the city, running to 60 bottles and 10 taps. The nachos are not a compromise.

The craft beer taproom near Shibuya station that has quietly developed one of Tokyo's most reliable sports viewing environments. 40 Japanese craft beer taps are the primary identity, but the 8 screens showing J.League, Champions League, and rugby have built a genuine sports crowd. The combination of excellent beer and sport viewed at a sensible volume attracts a local clientele that adds authenticity to the experience. Particularly good for rugby — the owner played for a club in Kanagawa.

The Shinjuku Irish pub that serves as the city's default for Six Nations and Rugby World Cup viewing. The Guinness is poured properly, the 10 screens include dedicated satellite dishes for Irish broadcasting, and the crowd on an Ireland or British Lions match day is as loud as anything outside Dublin. The Japanese locals who have become Six Nations converts over the years add an unexpected warmth to the atmosphere.

A more polished take on the sports bar format, with leather seating, cocktails alongside the beer, and a focus on the Japanese sporting calendar that most international bars ignore. Nippon Professional Baseball is shown on the primary screens during the season, with J.League football and domestic rugby on the secondary screens. The cocktail list is a full 30 drinks rather than an afterthought.

The sports bar that Nakameguro's creative class built for themselves. Bar Ichi operates as an izakaya hybrid: Japanese drinking food alongside craft beer and 6 screens showing a curation of sport that the owner selects based on quality rather than mainstream popularity. The Champions League and Wimbledon get the same treatment as a Yokohama Marinos derby. A bar for people who love sport rather than merely consume it.

The working Irish pub in the Roppongi Hills complex that has been consistent since 2004. The screens are numerous, the Guinness and Kilkenny are on tap, and the kitchen runs a genuine Sunday roast. For Premier League and Champions League, the Fiddler fills fast and the atmosphere on a big European night rivals what you find in an Irish city. The staff know their sport and their beer with equal confidence.

The most design-conscious sports bar in the city, where stadium seating meets cocktail craft in a three-floor rooftop venue near Omotesando Hills. The screens are 4K and the sound system is calibrated by a team that also works for Tokyo's jazz venues. The drinks programme is a full cocktail bar operation rather than a beer-only setup. Expensive relative to the Roppongi competition, but the experience justifies the gap.

The cheapest good sports bar in the city. The Gael charges approachable prices without compromising on screen count or beer quality, which makes it the first choice for residents rather than visitors. The Gaelic Games coverage in September draws the Irish community from across the Kanto region and creates the most unexpected sporting atmosphere you will find in Tokyo.

The sports bar for Ginza's business hotel crowd, which means it serves expensive cocktails alongside expensive whisky alongside Champions League and major tennis in a setting that would be more at home in a private members club than a conventional sports venue. The private dining booths for 8 people can be reserved with sports packages. For the expense account end of Tokyo sports viewing.

More entertainment venue than pure sports bar, Sports Monster adds pool tables, darts, table football, and a full arcade section to the standard screen formula. The result is the most social sports experience in Tokyo, where the gaps between games are as busy as the games themselves. The cocktail and beer list is competent without being distinguished. Best for group bookings.

Shibuya's answer to the Roppongi dominance of the Tokyo sports bar scene. Play Bar opened in 2019 and immediately positioned itself as the premium alternative, with 16 screens including a 3-metre centrepiece display, a cocktail programme built by a former Nobu Tokyo bartender, and a kitchen that runs a Japanese take on sports bar food. The Wagyu beef sliders have become a talking point independent of the sport.

The anti-Roppongi sports bar, run by a former professional cyclist who cares about cycling, football, and rugby in roughly that order. The Tour de France coverage is the best in Japan, the screens are fewer but better placed, and the Japanese craft beer selection is curated by someone who actually knows the brewers. The neighbourhood crowd of musicians and artists creates an atmosphere no chain bar can manufacture.

Stadium Bar sits two minutes from Akasaka Station and builds its room around a stadium concept, with banks of monitors and a giant screen. A batting simulator, vendor-style beer service and hot dogs push the matchday theme. The crowd fills in for big fixtures. Best for group bookings on a major game night.