In the world of cocktails and bartending, Japan's bartenders are in a league of their own. Dressed immaculately with near-robotic perfection, the signature class and elegance have no doubt inspired many to try their hand at shaking their own cocktails.

From a back-alley in Ginza to the neon-lighted streets of Tokyo, the Japanese have made bartending into an art form, with what seems like ten different ways to do a single move, each action has equal parts intention and aesthetic behind it.

Even bartenders such as I remain enraptured by such moves, moves that unfortunately, not many people actually know about.

To save you the trip to Japan, and so you might even try your hand at it if you plan on shaking up any drinks anytime soon, here's a couple of Japanese bartending techniques to show off to your friends!

1. The Hard Shake

Kazuo Uyeda and his famed Hard Shake

Let's start with the basics of any good shaken cocktail: The Shake. The Japanese have a method called the Hard Shake, also known as the Ginza Shake. 

The method was developed by cocktail legend Kazuo Uyeda at Tokyo’s Tender Bar. One of the few Japanese bartenders to actually have a book published in English outlining his industry beliefs, it is little wonder how his shake gained such popularity.

Best used with a cobbler shaker, one must secure the bottom with the fingers of one hand, and from the top with the thumb of the other. The base shake is not anything out of the ordinary, with the act of pushing the tin away from the chest before swiftly snapping it back to the original position. However, the difference is in the added corkscrew-like twist with each thrust.

With Uyeda, aeration without the cost of dilution is the name of the game. Unlike a regular shake, the corkscrew motion is said to allow ice to roll along the insides of the shaker from top to bottom, instead of crashing from end to end.

What this does, is that the ingredients within are combined perfectly and rounded out, but not to the extent where there is too much aeration and dilution. Perfect for any shaken cocktail, particularly with egg whites and juices.

2. The Vermouth Sidecar

A technique pioneered by famed Ginza bartender Yuchi Hoshi, the method is said to take the edge of Japan's Martinis, which are usually made especially dry.

Adopted by other well-known bartenders around the world, vermouth is first stirred and strained into another glass. After the Gin Martini is made, said glass is then served alongside it.

3. Diamond-Cut Ice

(Image source: The Daily Beast)

To be entirely fair, no one source irrefutably states the Japanese came up with cut ice, but Japanese bartenders have certainly elevated such a simple-sounding act.

With careful shaves and slices of a Japanese knife, a bartender cleaves a regular ice cube meticulously down until a 24-sided diamond shape remains. There remains no hard and fast rules for the type of knife used, as long as the wielder is comfortable with it. While this may look easy, everything from the temperature of the ice, its purity, and the sharpness and weight of a knife plays a role.

As one might already guess, it certainly is a waste to chuck such an artful piece of work into any old shaker. Such ice carvings are as much a show as they are a step in cocktail making, and can be more commonly seen in drinks that might require a good, hefty rocks ice to bring together.

4. The Tokyo Kaikan Style

Named after the bar it was invented in, this style remains a mildly bizarre one in the cocktail world. Essentially, it's the act of making any drink straight up, served with a rocks ice cube.

Imagine a coup-glass cocktail like a gimlet, but with a ice sitting in the middle. Yep, that's it! The aforementioned Uyeda took this method one step further; shaking the rocks ice in the shaker itself. Reportedly, the style helps showcase how ice cubes were rounded by his signature hard shake.

The method is said to help certain drinks to remain at their ideal temperature, preserving their flavors. With the slower melting rocks ice, cocktails like the Gimlet can avoid having to warm up, an act which affect their taste by making the cocktail sweeter.

5. The Highball Method

The Highball might be just another cocktail to the average drinker, but it is an insanely intricate process in Japan. There are even junior bartenders that spend months, if not years before they get the hang of making a "perfect" Highball.

Contrary to public belief, a Highball is not simply just dumping whisky and soda water into a glass with ice. It may just be three ingredients, but bartenders in Japan have more than a dozen ways to make it, based on personal preference.

Less alcoholic than a western Highball, intense care is put into the pouring, bubbles, ice and temperature. For example, it is recommended that soda water is poured in a way that doesn't make contact with the ice to preserve carbonation, and that both whisky and soda water are chilled beforehand so as to minimise dilution from melting ice.

6. Mise En Place

Taking inspiration from the French culinary technique of organisation and preparation of ingredients before each service ("Putting in place").

While there aren't many credible origin stories for this method, it is a known fact that in any Japanese cocktail bar worth its salt, the ingredients for the cocktail are laid up on the bartop in full view of the customers, with liqour labels facing outward for the customers to see.

While not exactly a method that affects the cocktail itself in any way, it certainly adds that extra bit of service to the experience. After all, knowing what goes into your drink is certainly an added bonus!

7. Slow and steady...

In other cocktail bars, especially in the Western world, one might come to expect rapid shaking and multitasking bartenders with a need to get drinks out to waiting crowds. Shaking two to three shakers at once is not unheard of.

However, Japanese bartenders pride themselves on a sort of meticulous patience, only doing one drink at a time. This act is their way of ensuring all their attention is put into the drink, and that every drink is to the highest standard of their abilities.

Of course, most cocktail bars have a high customer-to-bartender ratio, with crowd control measures subtly put in place (limited seats, for example), so there won't be a situation where say, one lone bartender is taking his time while a throng of a hundred people line up in front of him.

Lok Bing Hong A budding journalist that loves experiencing new things and telling people's stories. I have 30 seconds of coherence a day. I do not decide when they come. They are not consecutive.