Tokyo Confidential Bar Co-Owner Shares Challenges of Working in Japan

I landed my dream job as the food and drink editor at Time Out Hong Kong and fell in love with the Asian cocktail scene. Hong Kong’s bartending community felt like my people. I finally found a place where I truly fit in.

I focused on books and the bar

I had worked in hospitality on and off since I was 14, serving food in a London bar, and decided it was time to get back into bartending.

I then became the editor of DRiNK Asia magazine, while also working as a bartender at The Old Man Hong Kong. I travelled with the team to pop-ups and immersed myself even more in the world of cocktails in Asia. The Old Man then took the number one spot in the 50 Best Bars in Asia 2019, and my eyes were opened wide to this fascinating world.

I eventually left the bar to focus on writing and published my first book, Cocktails of Asia. It was my love letter to the world of bars that made me feel so at home. The book caught the attention of my current business partner and recently led me to Japan to help open a bar, Tokyo Confidential, in the capital. My partner is discreet and prefers not to be mentioned.

My husband and I were both hesitant about moving to Japan

It was a difficult decision to make. One of the hardest ones I’ve made so far. I had built a beautiful home in Hong Kong and formed a close-knit community of friends. I knew it wouldn’t be the same anywhere else, especially in a place as big as Tokyo.

But I had to ask myself what I was really doing. I had hit a ceiling in my editorial role and my husband, who is a co-founder of Tokyo Confidential, was unhappy in his job.

My parents always told me I was brave for going abroad. I never understood this because they had never traveled much, so how could they have known? Courage didn’t even cross my mind, but they were right. You’re braver when you’re young. In our mid-thirties, we were scared of change and knew that if we were going to do it, we had to give it our best shot.

Moving was easier when I was younger

Having traveled to Japan a dozen times over the past decade, I thought I knew the country pretty well. Before moving to Thailand and South Korea, I had never been there and was doing just fine. Maybe that’s because my innate ability to adapt anywhere was stronger in my twenties.

It soon became clear that living in Tokyo was a whole different story. Not to mention owning a cocktail bar. And being a woman.

Don’t get me wrong, living in Thailand was an incredible experience. When I arrived, I sat alone in a parking lot for three hours with a hot dog and rice, wondering what the hell I had done. In Seoul, I had to learn the language quickly, otherwise I would have had very limited experience. But like I said, maybe it’s different when you’re younger. Now, I felt like the stakes were higher.

It was stressful to move and start a new job

Moving to another country and starting a brand new business was even more difficult. This, combined with the insane amount of bureaucracy carried out by systems and technology firmly rooted in the 1990s, made setting up in Japan a challenge.

There is only one bank that non-Japanese can use, and things like registering your residence and changing your address involve hours of waiting at city halls, among other hurdles. Just a few months ago, the government announced it would no longer use floppy disks, so this is a problem.

The language barrier is different when you live here and aren’t just a tourist. The pressure to get things done is also different when you have a team of young, enthusiastic bartenders looking to you to mentor them.

Living in Japan has not been easy

But in a way, that’s the best part. We’re here to add something new to the bar scene. There are so many wonderful things to experience here that outweigh the challenges, and that said, I live for challenges.

People are really supportive of my efforts to learn Japanese and know full well how difficult it can be to live here. The local and international reception to Tokyo Confidential, our craft cocktail bar, has also been incredible, especially after so many people told me it wouldn’t work.

I see people’s faces light up when they come in and experience our drinks and hospitality. Just a few months after opening, we reached #53 on the extended list of Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2024 and were recognized as one of the Top 10 New International Cocktail Bars at the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards 2024.

It’s been less than a year since we opened and I’m so grateful to be able to call Japan home.

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