KONICHIWA!! The first ever Tokyo International Bar Show was held on the 5th and 6th of May 2012 in Tokyo, Japan. The moment I saw this event being advertised on facebook, I immediately told myself that this was a must-go event. Despite Japan having such a strong bartending scene for years, it’s hard to believe that this was the FIRST ever international bar show being organized. Tokyo isn’t exactly the cheapest city in the world but AirAsia X had an offer which made it all possible.

(From left: Rizal Junior, Allie Lim and me)

With Japan being a nation with high standards of quality in everything that they do and produce, inevitably expectations were high for this event organized by the Nippon Bartenders Association. So, to Midtown at Roponggi I went on the morning of 5th May, with me were my bartender friends, Rizal Junior from The View at G Tower, Akihiro Eguchi from Waku Ghin at Marina Bay Sands Singapore and Allie Lim previously with the Emerald Hill Group Singapore.

(2 coupons for a sample at this station)

Comparing against our initial expectations, I would have to say they fell short. For starters, the entrance fee was quite pricey at ¥9000 (RM 345.90). Even with such an entrance fee, not all samples were free. Additional coupons had to be purchased to sample the more premium selections exhibited. The Bar Show was held in conjunction with the Whisky Live Tokyo which together showcased about 60 whisky and spirit brands. The scale of the event was rather small as the exhibition was split to 2 large sized conference rooms which could be covered in half a day. In the hall which housed spirits hosted some cocktail presentations throughout the 2 day event.

(From left: Singapore: Vince Ang; Taiwan - Aki Wang; Korea - Dohwan Eom)

We had also signed up for 3 Master Classes priced at ¥3000 (RM 115.25) per class. On the first day, we attended New York Bartending Style by Kenta Goto and World Champions hosted by Manabu Ohtake and Takafumi Yamada. Without being informed, both classes were conducted in 100% Japanese which we didn’t understand at all. This left us feeling like we wasted our money. Luckily Akihiro is Japanese and provided some translations. This left us

(The Malt and Chocolate Master Class)

wondering if this was truly and “international” or just a “national” bar show. After being slightly discouraged, we proceeded with Malt and Chocolates session by Dave Broom on the second day. To our luck, there was a translator! And just as well for this class which was really interesting and educational on pairings with whisky, both Japanese and Scottish, with chocolates.

(The Yamazaki whisky)

Overall, I believe to the association, the event was a success. There is certainly much room for improvement as through feedback of the participants would they know of the teething problems. Let’s hope that they learn from this and will be looking forward for a better bar show next year and years to come. KANPAI!!