It’s summer! Beer! The LION!

From the Ginza 4-chome intersection, let’s walk up Ginza Dori toward Shimbashi. Arriving in 6-chome, where the Matsuzakaya Department Store used to stand, we find the large GINZA SIX building which was recently completed, absorbing the adjacent building as well. However, beyond GINZA SIX, in its shadows, the LION Beer-Hall stands as it always has. This time of year, just before summer, the sight of that yellow signboard hanging against the vintage pink facade makes me gulp and my feet seem to be drawn over.

At this point, the beer brewery was yet to be built in what is now Ebisu, and the area was not even called by that name. The Yebisu brand was named after Ebisu (god of fishing and good fortune), one of the Shichifukujin (Seven Gods of Fortune), which was used as the brand character. Back then, around in the late 1880s to early 1900s, many brands of local beer were named after and depicted unique characters, including Tengu Beer, Fuku Beer (using the Otafuku (moonfaced girl with rosy cheeks) as its brand character), and Hotei Beer and Fukuroku Beer (named after two other Shichifukujin gods)
The Yebisu Beer-Hall opened on the edge of Shimbashi, in what was then Minami-kinrokucho 5-banchi. They rented a two-story brick building that had been built after the Great Ginza Fire of Meiji 5 (1673) and had Yorinaka Tsumaki, famous for decorations such as the giraffe sculpture of Nihombashi, take care of the interior design. What they couldn’t decide on until the very end was the name “Beer-Hall.” Of the many candidates, including “Beer Bar,” “Beer Room,” and “Beer Saloon,” they had almost decided on “Beer Saloon,” but since there was a disreputable store with the same name in Yokohama, they finally decided on the Japanglish word “Beer-Hall.” The name “Milk Hall,” which refers to cafes featuring milk that later became popular throughout Japan, was derived from the “Beer Hall.”
The concept of the Beer Hall that Makoshi had in mind was to serve beer, which was a luxury only available at high-end Japanese restaurants at the time, as a more casual drink. There was no food menu at first. However, newspaper articles written one month after its opening reveal that the Beer Hall was crowded with customers representing all walks of life.
“The rickshaw puller and the gentleman sit opposite one another, the mechanic and the sophisticated businessman sit side by side, and the frock coat and the military uniform engage in conversation. They all drink the same bubbly beer and leave when they finish with the same smile on their face.” (Chuo Shimbun, September 4, 1900 (Meiji 32))
It would seem as though the atmosphere of today’s Beer Hall already prevailed, but beer was still quite expensive. It cost ten sen (=0.1 yen) for half a liter of beer, which is equivalent to approximately 1500 yen for a medium size mug (500cc). That would mean than people were sipping their beer rather than drinking it in large amounts.
By the way, I mentioned earlier that it opened in the summer of Meiji 32, but to be more specific, the date was August 4. Even today, all Ginza Lion restaurants sell all beers for half price on its anniversary. Come to think of it, perhaps the opening of the restaurant in Ginza 7-chome was on April 8 because of an obsession with the numbers 4 and 8.
Many postcards of the townscape of Ginza in the Meiji period depict an overview of the area from Shimbashi to Ginza 4-chome and Kyobashi. The Beer Hall can be found on the right side and on the left side is the gourd-shaped clock tower of Hakuhinkan, when it was still the Kankoba shopping center. Come to think of it, Hakuhinkan was also established in Meiji 32 (1900), the same year as the Beer Hall. That makes me wonder if they had discussed opening in the same year, targeting customers who fancied new trends.
Interviews are indeed important, but sitting in a beer hall without a drink… To accompany my half-liter mug of draft beer, I ordered peas boiled in salted water – a very simple dish but very light and good. My guess is that they served simple dishes like this at the time of their opening. I also ordered “Beer-Hall Stew,” which I would describe to be a Japanese-style beef stew. It was quite tasty, and what had made me order this particular dish was my curiosity for the “Yebisu Stew (Yebisu-ni)” which I discovered on the menu that they first used when they opened in Ginza 7-chome in 1934 (Showa 9).