and how to find a good one

They are still out there,  the traditional, genuine places with no make-up, many of them calling themselves 大衆酒場 (taishū sakaba / literally a "drinking place for ordinary people").  But sometimes they are not easy to find.

A typical one could look like this:

Located somewhere in a 下町 (shitamachi / downtown) district, family business, the women attending the guests, the men preparing the food in the kitchen. The building would be owned by the family (no rent = reasonable prices !) and the place has already been in business for many many years. The menu is handwritten on paper strips displayed on the wall, frequently changing with the season. The コの字カウンター (konoji / U-shaped counter) is always packed with clients, most of them regulars living in the neighborhood. Payment by cash only !

The good places all have dedicated staff who have worked there not only since the day before yesterday and therefore know their stuff. Give it a try and ask a question slightly more complicated than “where is the toilet”, like: “もう秋刀魚出ていますか?” (mou sanma deteimasuka / do you already have sanma on the menu?).  If you are smiled at and told that it is no sanma season at all ( lol ), thumbs up. Should the staff however disappear with a 少々お待ちください (shōshō omachi kudasai / just a moment please) on his lips, then forget it, the staff just doesn't know, how could he, he probably worked for Pizza Hut before.

How to find the good places: At the beginning (and if you can read Japanese) it is highly recommended to buy one of the excellent guide books written by 太田和彦 (Kazuhiko Ōta), a graphic designer and former professor at Tohoku University of Art and Design. This guy really knows what he is talking about. He is also running a TV series, 全国居酒屋紀行 (Zenkoku Izakaya Kikō), unfortunately only shown on some minor cable-TV channels. A similar TV-series is running on BS-TBS: 吉田類の酒場放浪記, sakabahōrōki by Rui Yoshida, actually quite funny because the guy drinks so much during the shooting that at the end of the 15 min episode he always talks with a drunken slur.

Then you might want to have a look on the Japanese internet site "Izakaya Junky" with a large collection of Tokyo’s Izakaya, regrettably this site appears not to be updated for some time and again - Japanese only. There is also an English site with some nice Izakaya reviews: Yumejistheme, run by Dave Perry. More info also on the Izakaya links page.

One more piece of advice: when you visit an Izakaya, just start a little conversation with your neighbor at the counter. After the usual comment 日本語がお上手ですね they are very often happy to share some information about other places they know. This is the way the author made most of his discoveries.