Getting into bars in tokyo

Hello i live in iwakuni on a marine base and we have a trip planned to tokyo in s couple weeks and i heard a rumor that you cannot get into bars without a passport. all we have are drivers lisences, (because im guessing military id's are not an option). can we get into bars with those?

And also does anyone know of any good bars to go too, or know of any stuff to do that is fun?

I have never been asked for an ID to enter bars or clubs in Roppongi, Shibuya, or Shinjuku, nor have I noticed anyone else being carded at the door. The only time that anyone I know has been asked for ID, they were behaving loudly outside a bar at about 3 am.

I should note that my friends and I are primarily foreign and around 22 - 27, so we all "look" like we are old enough to be drinking. So anyway, I'd say that as long as you look old enough to be in a bar, and are behaving reasonably well, no one will even ask for your driver's license, passport, etc.

I have been asked for ID only 2 or 3 times out of the hundreds of times I have been to bars/clubs. It pays to have ID on you just in case, and I don't think that having an ID that isn't your passport would be a problem.

I wouldn't worry too much about entering bars, but every adult, locals included, should be ready to show some kind of an ID if a policeman happens to stop you for any reason. And I must say that I wouldn't be surprised if the police are especially keeping an eye on young military personnels.

I'm not sure how IDs work for U.S. military men in Japan, though. Is it normal for you guys to not have passports? What do you use as IDs then when you go outside the gate at Iwakuni? That ID is what you should be carrying around in Tokyo as well, I suppose. What do your senior officers say?

Normally, an ID for non-Japanese people in Japan would be a foreign registration card or a passport.

I'm sure you're not planning to use those licenses for driving after you go to the bar, but just so that you'd know, drunk driving is very strictly prohibited in Japan nowadays. Too many innocent lives were taken away within these few years.

dunno about bars, probably not, but the better clubs in Shibuya, like Atom for example, you definitly need one, security has gone up, i was checked all the time and not because i look like a criminal or something.

a legal I.D can be anything though, never tried drivers license.