Arrive in Tendo, a city in Yamagata Prefecture known as the shogi capital of Japan, where the streets carry a distinctly local character far removed from tourist circuits. Meet your guide at the starting point and get your first sense of how Tendo’s drinking culture is woven into the fabric of everyday life here — unpretentious, neighborhood-driven, and rooted in regional pride.

Move through up to three walkable drinking districts in and around the Tendo area over the course of three hours. At each stop, step inside a Tabelog-listed bar or izakaya, settle in, and order drinks and food directly from the menu.

Let your guide help bridge any language gap and point out what locals tend to order, giving you a way into the venue that goes beyond simply walking through the door. By the time you reach the third bar, move through three different corners of Tendo’s nightlife on your own terms — drinks chosen, tabs paid, conversations had.

Leave with a grounded sense of what drinking out actually looks like in this part of Yamagata, shaped by the places you visited and the choices you made along the way.