Suntory's spirited strategy

THEY'RE smoky. Stuffy. Chaotic. Elbow room is a luxury, social niceties an afterthought and the food deliberately oversalted. But when spirits are high - in more ways than one - such things don't matter to a Japanese salary man whose sole intention is to pack his daytime persona as straight-laced, subservient model employee back into his manbag so that his real self can come out to play.

Behold the izakaya - a pub with food to you but a way of life to the Japanese, a culture deeply ingrained since the Edo period that's in no danger of dying out any time soon. Certainly not at Tachinomi Marugin - or simply Marugin - a grungy hard-core izakaya that sits on the fringe of Tokyo's shiny Ginza district. Locals and clued-in tourists pack shoulder-to-shoulder in this tight space shrouded in silvery grey smoke as flexible servers coolly slither around, delivering freshly grilled yakitori and boiled edamame. Groups of dark-suited men (and some women) sit with their ties askew, laughing uproariously as they nibble and knock back gulps of Kaku highball served in giant beer mugs - the alcoholic refresher of choice which has become synonymous with Japan's izakaya culture.

The thirst-quenching, lightly boozy combination of one shot of Suntory whisky and four shots of soda water - the ratio is imperative - is a prime example of how clever marketing and carefully calculated strategy can reverse the image of a once boring liqueur and influence social trends at the same time.