In Downtown Kyoto is Kyoto’s oldest/first reggae bar ‘Rub A Dub(ラバダブ)’ which opened in 1986. Or it’s Jamaica’s Montego Bay-inspired Zion founded by Kyoto’s local legend ‘Nick Yamamoto (ニック山本)’ who lived in Jamaica and NY.
Inside Rub A Dub.
Rub A Dub’s menu.
Rail drinks are 600 yen ($4.60).
Rub A Dub is such a cozy ramshackle which is a rare occasion in this 1000+ year-old Kyoto (since 794). Now, the crowd is international and multicultural: foreigners communicating in English with/without an accent, local Japanese bros having a bro time, a tired and emotional local bae trying get lucky on tourists. Here, nothing was lost in translate. Everybody was chilling in reggae music.
A freestyle graffiti in a bathroom says “your B” in a girly font.
Rub A Dub (ラバダブ) | 115 Ishiyacho, Tsujita-biru B1F, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto, 〒604-8002, Japan
P.S. The founder Nick Yamamoto is also known as the owner of Kyoto’s oldest nightclub ‘CLUB METRO(京都メトロ)’. It’s the only place that regularly hosts a drag queen event named ‘DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER‘ in Kyoto.
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