100 bars and restaurants in and around the capital are part of bargain that costs less than two normally priced beers.

Many would say that after a long, hard day as a working adult, there’s no better way of rewarding yourself than with a nice cold beer. But part of being a working adult is paying for your own adult beverages, so any way you can stretch your drinking budget is a definite plus.

And therein lies the beauty of Gubit. For a monthly fee, the mobile app offers users one free alcoholic drink (beer, sake, wine, shochu, and cocktails are all options) per day at its participating partner restaurants and pubs. The service currently has 100 participating locations in and around Tokyo, including traditional izakaya taverns, swanky French restaurants, and craft beer bars. You’re free to redeem your drink at a different location every day, or, if like some kind of old-enough-to-drink Goldilocks, you’ve found a place that’s just right, you can hit it up for a cold one day after day.

To use the app, first you select the restaurant you want to go to, and you’ll be presented with a list of available free drinks (there are multiple beverage options for each location). Once you’ve chosen one, you’ll be given a redemption code/screen, and all you have to do to get your free drink is show the screen to your server.

▼ The interface has pictures, making it easy to navigate even if you don’t read Japanese.

As with any investment, the critical calculation is to determine your break-even point. In Tokyo, a draft beer or chu-hi shochu sour cocktail will usually run you somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 yen. Gubit charges 980 yen (US$9) a month, which means to make it worth your while, you only have to use it twice a month. As for your maximum economic gain, since Gubit is usable on both weekdays and weekends, in a 30-day month you could easily be downing 15,000 yen worth of free drinks, which makes the 980-yen outlay feel like a serious bargain.

There are two things to keep in mind. First, it’s common for izakaya and bars to charge a per-person service fee, usually about 500 yen. If the restaurant you’ve picked does so, you’ll have to cover that cost yourself. Second, Gubit is usable every day from 3 p.m., so you can’t use it for early-afternoon drinking (though it remains an option for late-afternoon festivities).

While Gubit is starting with the Tokyo area, in the future it plans to expand its partner list to include bars and restaurants in Osaka, Nagoya, and Fukuoka as well. If the service sounds like a one-month commitment you’re willing to make, it’s official website/registration can be found here.

Sources: Gubit, Tech Crunch via Otakomu
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert image: Gubit

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