Bars in Asakusa where smoking is allowed but relatively comfortable
- Asoko It gets extraordinarily smoky on Saturdays and Sundays due to horse racing spectators, but it's almost vacant on weekdays.
- Boso cuisine Kimura smoking customers are rare.
- Daruma Sometimes smoky, but usually bearable.
- Capricious Eri Sometimes smoky, but usually bearable.
- Stand Bar Nonki-ya Sometimes smoky, but usually bearable.
- Motsu-Masa Sometimes smoky, but usually bearable.
There are places out there that aren't strictly non-smoking, but hardly ever have customers who smoke—or where, even if there are smokers, the overall atmosphere makes it entirely bearable. In other words, while I genuinely prefer to go only to non-smoking establishments, the shops listed here are those I simply cannot resist visiting despite that. That is precisely how good and highly recommended I believe they are. No matter how great a place may be, any shop that is overwhelmingly smoky has been intentionally left off this list.
On weekends, Asakusa Rokku gets extraordinarily foul-smelling as gamblers gathering at the off-track betting parlor constantly light up. The area from Tsukuba Express Asakusa Station to WINS Asakusa—main streets aside—becomes virtually an open-air smoking lounge along the back alleys, so I stay far away.
