Novel about a bartender in world where human civilization is collapsing

Question

Anyone know the name of this novel ? I read it a very long time back. Around 1996. Story is set in a future where humanity is in a decline. Humanity is dying out slowly. There are fewer and fewer people being born. The sea levels have risen significantly and the climate has changed significantly. But, it is not a post-apocalyptic type of setting or world though. It's kinda set in a peaceful and a slow world. A world were there are just very few people around. The book calls it living in the "twilight of mankind".

The main character is a bartender working in a bar, that obviously doesn't get many people in it. The story is essentially about him kinda living his life, his experiences and his interactions or conversations with occasional few people who show up at the bar. Outside of his bar working hours he usually does scuba diving to salvage some items and such. It's kinda of a very quite contemplative book.

Answer 1

Are you sure this was a novel? There's a manga series called Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō (Yokohama Shopping Trip) which matches this closely, except the protagonist runs a coffee shop not a bar (er, and is female, and an android).

The setting of the sea level rising, humanity dying out and the contemplative atmosphere are particular matches.

According to Wikipedia, there was a sequel novel about a male android, but it doesn't look like that was ever translated.

Answer 2

There were a series of short story collections by Larry Niven named The Draco Tavern that sound like your description. A man owns a tavern that caters to alien travelers and hears many stories from his patrons. I don't recall scuba diving or a sense that humans are in a twilight period in the stories, but it's been a while since I've read them.