Arrive in Oarai, a coastal town in Ibaraki Prefecture known for its fishing heritage and local food culture. Meet your guide and get your bearings in a town where the drinking scene reflects its working-port roots — unpretentious, local, and lived-in.

From the first venue to the third, move on foot through Oarai’s bar zones, stepping into each spot and ordering drinks and snacks at the counter. Your guide walks you through the character of each place — how to order, what locals tend to drink, and what makes each stop distinct from the last.

The pace is relaxed, with time to settle in at each bar before moving on to the next. By the third bar, work your way through three different corners of Oarai’s drinking culture, each venue showing a different side of how locals unwind in this part of Ibaraki.

Leave with a grounded sense of the town beyond its seafood markets and tourist spots, having moved through it the way residents do — one area bar at a time.