Hi all, I hope this is the right place to put this, my friend is visiting Tokyo and its apparently really awesome there!
He’s recently ran into a problem when our little friend group told him to make his way to a Gamer/Internet PC place so we could play some games together online while hes away on vacation.
When he went into the establishment he was turned away and told ‘No Foreigners’. It was an older guy working there, not sure if that matters, and our friend is a very tall Chinese Canadian.
Any ideas? I don’t want to post the name of the place he tried, most subs dont usually allow that.
Thanks in advance everyone!
7 comments
Shitty that it happened to your friend, but it’s not unheard of for Japanese establishments (typically restaurants but I guess PC cafes too) to turn away foreigners. It’s pretty sad, but not much you can do about it. Not to justify their shitty policies, but I do think some places just don’t want to deal with English speakers if they don’t have any on staff.
If establishments in Japan say they do not allow foreigners, it’s primarily for four reasons:
* they assume that person does not speak Japanese and they do not have English-speaking staff and want to avoid giving bad service or any other misunderstandings;
* they have had previously bad previous interactions with foreigners and choose not to provide services as such (this primarily applies to restaurants, but also to some entertainment);
* they were pre-booked or had a regular customers that will come at some point and the proprietor does not want to turn them away;
* they are run as a money-laundring front or an operation by yakuza (this applies primarily to sex businesses, certain pachinko parlors and karaoke bars)
If said an establishment had been located in Kabukicho, Roppongi, Ikebukuro or Akihabara – 4 becomes somewhat likely reason, otherwise I would assume either 1 or 2.
Internet cafe in Japan normally require registration (I think required by law). I can imagine a random internet cafe that aren’t equipped to deal with foreigners.
I’ve never been to such places before, but before COVID, my friends says they (foreigner) can stay at some Internet cafe with private space over night, just like a cheap hotel. Like:
[https://jiqoo.jp/cont_en/](https://jiqoo.jp/cont_en/)
[https://rakutama.com/shop/ueno.html](https://rakutama.com/shop/ueno.html)
Maybe they will still accept foreigners now?
i’d use google maps to look for internet cafes
if the place had enough english reviews it’s worth a try
It’s unfortunate but not unheard of. Not much you can do about it as a customer.
Any ideas? Yes a simple one, go somewhere else and forget about it, not really worth having your holidays ruined for something quite petty that can have tons of explanation, from xenophobia to issues with foreign credit cards or simple laziness.