The Tokyo Kaikan (meaning Tokyo Meeting Hall) was built in 1921, facing the Imperial Palace. It soon became a favorite spot for the city’s corporate elite with its restaurants, ball rooms and meeting rooms. The bar had five bartenders on its staff during the 1920s. 

From the surrender of the Empire of Japan in September of 1945 until the Treaty of San Francisco in April of 1952, Japan was occupied and administered by the Allied Forces. During this period the Tokyo Kaikan functioned both as the US military officer’s club and as the Tokyo American Club for expatriate businessmen. With the influx of American soldiers the Kaikan soon went from five to forty bartenders on the payroll serving up to 1000 customers per day. 

During the post-war occupation, people of Japan were living under hard conditions and rations while some of the American troops spent their free time in the bars of Tokyo. Overseeing the occupation was Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, US General Douglas MacArthur. Entering the bar at the American Club in Tokyo in April 1949, General MacArthur was horrified to find American soldiers having fancy cocktails long before lunch when the Japanese outside were suffering. 

After reprimanding his troops the American party stopped. That is until a crafty bartender, possibly Japan’s most famous bartender, Kiyoshi Imai, who worked the bar at Tokyo Kaikan, had a stroke of genius. He took a regular Gin Fizz, dialed down the seltzer, added an ounce of milk and called it the Kaikan Fizz. This made the drink look like a healthy glass of milk and no general could be opposed to something as wholesome as milk. So the soldiers could go back at it. 

When the American troops left Japan in 1952, and the need to hide your day drinking was gone, the Kaikan Fizz had already become a modern classic that has been enjoyed ever since.

The glass called Bamboo was designed in 2002 by Japanese designer Yukari Hirono. 

Product information

This is one in a series of illustrations of classic cocktail recipes with a selection of the most beautifully designed glasses.

The size 40x50 cm (approx 16x20”) are signed and printed on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Bright White 310g archival paper and are sold in a limited edition of 50 prints.

The size 30x40 cm (approx 12x16”) are printed on Hahnemühle Fine Art Studio Enhanced 210g archival paper.