Kiyoka is the fourth shop on the left. But slide open the simple wooden door and you find yourself in Okinawa. It's a cozy, friendly place, all wooden beams and cheerful clutter. Plaintive shima-uta music fills the air. The mama-san hails from Myanmar but has made Kiyoka her second home.
Most people start their imbibing with flagons of draft Orion lager.
These can range in alcoholic strength from a mere 25 percent to as high as 60 percent. To the uninitiated, awamori tastes about as appetizing as high-octane rocket fuel. But the best kusu, aged for decades in ceramic crocks, can be surprisingly smooth and palatable. For many years, Kiyoka has been one of the few places in Tokyo that stocked with any regularity the prized Awanami, a version of awamori made in very limited batches on remote Hateruma, the southernmost inhabited island of the Yaeyama group. Seek it out quickly, while stocks last.