Year-End Party Venue in Ginza: Private Hire and Course Cos…
If you are holding a year-end party in Ginza as a private hire, the budget works out in the low ¥10,000s. Courses with all-you-can-drink at Chura Shabu-tei run from ¥9,900 (tax included) to ¥13,750 (tax included). Private hire covers 20-50 guests, with seating for up to 45. What decides how satisfying it is, though, is less the price than where you put the center of gravity in the food.
A year-end party is remembered through its food
When a year-end party is over, the comments from guests fall roughly into 2 camps: that was fun, or that was the usual place. What creates the difference is not skill in running the evening but how the food lodges in the memory.
Everyone goes to several parties in December. Eat the standard izakaya course 3 times in a row and you can no longer tell one from another. Conversely, you remember the dish you have eaten only once. The strongest weapon an organizer has is serving something the guests have not eaten once all year.
Shabu-shabu made with Okinawan brand pork meets that condition easily. Yanbaru Agu pork, Kibimaru pork, pineapple pork, Beni Agu pork, Shimakuru black pork. These are not dishes that turn up every year at a Ginza party. There is a practical benefit too: simply reading the names out gets the table talking.
A year-end party has one more difficulty all its own: the guest list is the broadest of the year. People who normally work on another floor, people who joined this year and people who move on next year all end up at the same table. You spend 2 and a half hours with people you have little in common with. In that situation, what you can rely on is the food in front of you. The organizer’s load is lighter too, since there is no need to come prepared with topics.
Breaking down what the ¥10,000s buy
To a guest, the cost of a year-end party is just a figure. To the organizer it is a question of allocation. Separate out how much is going on the food, how much on the drinks and how much on the time.
| Course | Price (tax included) | All-you-can-drink | The kind of year-end party it suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Okinawan Appetizer Course | ¥6,600 | None | Parties where how much people drink varies widely |
| Okinawan Appetizer Course | ¥9,900 | 90 minutes | Parties keeping the cost down and finishing early |
| Okinawan Appetizer Course | ¥11,000 | 150 minutes | Parties where the point is to talk at length |
| Three Selected Okinawan Pork Shabu-shabu Course | ¥9,350 | None | Parties with the food as the star and drinks on each guest |
| Three Selected Okinawan Pork Shabu-shabu Course | ¥12,650 | 90 minutes | The standard shape, taking both the food and the drinks |
| Three Selected Okinawan Pork Shabu-shabu Course | ¥13,750 | 150 minutes | The once-a-year party, with everything included |
What to look at in this table is how the price moves when you change the center of gravity in the food. The appetizer-led course and the shabu-shabu course sit in different price bands before any all-you-can-drink is added. Rather than fixing the cost per head first, decide which experience you are buying and then translate it into a figure. Guests find that far easier to accept.
Not adding all-you-can-drink is also an option
At a party with a fair number of non-drinkers, putting all-you-can-drink on everyone breeds complaints. The Okinawan Appetizer Course is ¥6,600 (tax included) and the Three Selected Okinawan Pork Shabu-shabu Course ¥9,350 (tax included), and you can order drinks individually alongside. Orion Beer is served on draft, and the restaurant has completed the Orion Beer draft quality seminar. The awamori (Okinawan spirit) list includes Zanpa, Kikunotsuyu VIP Gold and Ryukyu Ocho.
Look separately at what you are paying for time
With the same food, the figure moves depending on whether all-you-can-drink runs 90 or 150 minutes. For the Okinawan Appetizer Course that is ¥9,900 (tax included) against ¥11,000 (tax included); for the Three Selected Okinawan Pork Shabu-shabu Course, ¥12,650 (tax included) against ¥13,750 (tax included). What the difference buys is not food but time. Seen that way, it becomes easy to explain the cost to your guests. The decision gets simple too: 90 minutes if you plan a second venue, 150 if the evening ends here.
What to watch for with December dates
The date of a year-end party is not decided by the guests’ diaries alone. The restaurant’s operating conditions come first.
- Closed Sundays and public holidays. December has weeks with public holidays in them, so check before you propose candidate dates.
- Saturdays are by reservation only. It may be possible if you call ahead, and contact is needed at least 3 days beforehand.
- Open 17:00-23:30. Last order is 22:30 for food and 23:00 for drinks.
- Parties running over 2 and a half hours are accommodated. Even the 150-minute course fits inside the time available.
Candidate dates bunch together at the end of the year. The first thing an organizer should do is not to circulate an availability poll but to ask the restaurant about the first and second choice of date. Do it the other way around and you collect everyone’s availability only to find the restaurant cannot be booked.
The details that lighten the organizer’s load
Collecting the money is the most tedious job in a year-end party. VISA, Mastercard, JCB, AMEX and Diners cards are accepted, so you can settle the whole bill at once and square up afterwards. If it goes on expenses, give the name for the receipt when you book.
If someone is leaving the company or transferring before the year is out, the year-end party is in effect their farewell. Call ahead and you can arrange a cake (at extra cost) or bring your own. Celebrations and surprises are accommodated, so decide where in the evening it happens.
The address is Kawabata Building New Wing 3F, 8-5-21 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, a 5-minute walk from Shimbashi Station and a 7-minute walk from Ginza Station. Ginza gets busy at the end of the year, so it causes less confusion to tell people to meet inside the restaurant rather than in front of it. Along with the address, put the building name and the 3rd floor in your announcement.
Get a picture of the seating in advance as well. There are 3 tables for 4 and 3 tables for 6, 5 counter seats, and a fully private room with a door (2-6 guests). A year-end party is also a chance to sit with people you never normally talk to, so the organizer should decide how the tables are split with that intention in mind. Left alone, the same people cluster together as always and you get the same party you had a year ago.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can we take the place privately for a year-end party?
Private hire is arranged for 20-50 guests. Below 20 you can still ask about reserving seats. Call 03-3573-5529 with your headcount and date.
How much should I budget?
The restaurant’s budget band is ¥10,000-14,999. Courses with all-you-can-drink run from ¥9,900 (tax included) to ¥13,750 (tax included), which lands in the low ¥10,000s.
I want to know which labels all-you-can-drink covers
Check the labels included in all-you-can-drink when you book. Ordered individually, there is awamori (Okinawan spirit), sake (Hakkaisan, Urakasumi, Kikuhime and others), whisky (Yamazaki, Hakushu, Chivas Regal and others) and wine.
By when should I book a year-end party?
Any cutoff depends on the date and the headcount, so call to discuss it as soon as you have candidate dates. If you want a Saturday, contact is needed at least 3 days in advance.
Reservations and inquiries
Year-end dates fill up in the order they are claimed. Chura Shabu-tei, 03-3573-5529 (17:00-23:30 / closed Sundays and public holidays). Course details are on the official site at https://churashabu.com/
