Dassai Bar will open on October 1, 2020 on the 7th floor of the Shin-Marunouchi Building in Tokyo. It is a place meant to that bring people together through Dassai.
The project was launched last fall and initially, we planned to open the bar in July this year as a place to enjoy Tokyo’s nightlife scene in anticipation of welcoming international guests coming for the Tokyo Olympics.
Due to the spread of the new coronavirus, the opening of the bar had to be postponed, but we resumed the project with a desire to “bring back a healthy and lively Tokyo night”, which would in turn help out the restaurant businesses.
We are pleased to announce that we will be opening on October 1st.
In addition to enjoying a variety of Dassai, including our flagship "Dassai 23", Asahi Shuzo staff will be on hand every weekend to organize events and provide drinks that can only be enjoyed here and to organize events. The interior has been designed by Space Design, Inc. and is meant to express Dassai’s worldview. It is the same architect – Yoshiyuki Kawazoe – that has also designed the interior of “Gen Bar”.
About the bar
“Dassai bar”
7th floor of Shin Marunouchi Building, 1-5-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Marunouchi house TEL 03-3211-6999
Opening hours: 17:00 – 24:00
No regular holidays
About the architect, Yoshiyuki Kawazoe
Born in 1979, Kanagawa. He is an associate professor at the Institute of Industrial Science, University of Tokyo and a First Class Architect at Space Design, Inc.
After he graduated from the University of Tokyo with a degree in architecture, he earned his PhD after studying in the Netherlands.
His worked on designing “The Annex of the University of Tokyo General Library” and “Hen na Hotel” among other projects. He has also written books such as “Tracing intentions embedded in space” or “Living in this town”.
He has received many awards in Japan and abroad, including the Grand Prize of the Tokyo Architecture Award, the Newcomer's Award of the Architectural Institute of Japan, the Good Design Future Design Award, and the Honorable Mention of the Rogelio Salmona South American Architecture Award.
Design concept, by Yoshiyuki Kawazoe
“What Asahi Shuzo makes, is not alcohol. This is the concept of this space.
It seems that Asahi Shuzo has been trying to connect people with each other through Dassai. When we realized this, we came up with the concept of the Dassai Bar. This is a space where people have starring role.
We have developed a special container for this project. The space itself would be complete the moment Dassai is poured into glasses, which will in turn glow. Sometimes quietly, sometimes gently. The connection between people brought forward by Dassai will take the shape of a light, this is when “Dassai bar” itself will be complete.
For Dassai and for the architecture, it is the people who play the leading role. The design is the result of this concept.”
Thoughts on Dassai bar, by Asahi Shuzo’s chairman – Hiroshi Sakurai
The aim is to give the audience a sense of the unspoilt nature of the mountains of Yamaguchi prefecture, where our sakagura is located, with no neon lights or other signs of life, while enjoying Dassai. Japan's urban form is different from that of the West in that, cities are a cluster of rural areas and is never separated or opposed to one another. The Bar was originally planned as a way to introduce the charms of Japanese culture to foreigners who are coming to watch the Olympic games.
Although the Olympic games were postponed for one year due to the coronavirus crisis, we have created a space that showcases the multifaceted appeal of Japan from Tokyo's symbolic district of Marunouchi. We look forward to seeing you here.