Are signs that prohibit foreigners from entering clubs, restaurants, bars, hotels, etc less or more common, or about the same in prevalence in South Korea and Japan today than 10 years ago?

39 comments

1. [removed]

2. In Japan, in 25 years, I have been told that foreigners were not welcome exactly once, but that was because of the language (and I got in as soon as it was understood I could speak Japanese). And there was a guy that put a sign in front of his shop in the early days of the pandemic and it got viral on Twitter very fast.

   I don’t think that it’s that common, at least in Japan.

3. 10 years isn’t enough to change something like that. Especially after covid started.

4. The last one I saw in person was 16 years ago, and even then it was quite rare.

5. My sense is it’s slightly in the rise in Japan, but not sure how it stacks against Korea. I got turned away from lots of teenager jobs in the 90s, and housing would have been difficult, but I never saw a sign posted or got turned away from a restaurant. These days it’s been a little more normalized, and the justifications are a little more sophisticated.

6. I have lived here for almost 20 years and have never seen one. Is it a stereotype anymore?

7. The only place this happened to me was in Nikko. Not a sign, but a racist shop owner who shouted shit at me like I didn’t understand. I also had the best ramen ever and was well treated elsewhere in town, but in general people in Nikko dislike foreigners.

8. In 12 years in Japan, I’ve been denied entry to perhaps 3 places across all that time. Last one was about 6 mo ago.

   I will say that after the 3/11 quake and during the peak of COVID, there were many places that would deny entry to foreigners, so that’s not in my above count.

   As for Korea, I hear tale that it’s more prevalent there than here, but not as much as 15 years ago or so.

9. Never seen a sign in my 15 years here.

10. I lived in a suburb of Tokyo and saw plenty of these signs, not sure what people here are talking about saying that they haven’t seen them

11. It was fairly common until 5 or 7 years ago, especially at the entrance of some “less reputable” stablishments.

    I have also seen twice nightclubs in Tokyo specifically forbidding people from a given nationality to enter uppon checking their IDs (Mongolians and Russians respectively, I didn’t want anything to do with it these places, so I didn’t go in although I’m neither of them).

12. I’ve seen a few here and there. Mostly on bars / nightclubs.

    I was turned away from an onsen once, and an izakaya that was all “reserved” at 11am on a Saturday. It was one that takes the door / walls off in nice weather so it feels like it’s all outside. There were literally 2 tables of people inside and about 40 empty ones. I’d previous drank there before the year before for lunch, but the staff there seemed all new. I am pretty sure this place doesn’t take reservations, and I never had trouble just walking up to this one or others in the area getting seat before.

    I was also once refused to make a reservation at a Michelin star sushi place over the phone (no web reservations for this shop), conversation all in Japanese. The staff insisted I must reserve through my hotel once they heard my name. Even after explaining I live here, have residence, offer to give a credit card number. No dice. I *must* use my hotel concierge, of the hotel I will NOT be staying at b/c why would I?

    I’ve ran into a few racist assholes on the train, and or at festivals, etc. in public before.

    But these people are few and far between. 99.9% of places in Japan serve foreigners and don’t have these signs. Foreigners generally don’t have serious trouble with access to bars and restaurants in Japan.

13. Outliers like COVID Panic aside, at least 90% of these signs are being found either at businesses related to the sex trade (and at least half the time they’re letting you in if you speak Japanese), or in areas where a large temporary foreign population has resulted in Incidents, which is why a lot of the photos you’ll find of “Japanese Only” signs are either from near military bases, or places like Hokkaido that frequently see Russian ships coming in and out.

    Basically you aren’t going to come across such a sign in the wild unless you’re *really* looking for them, and you’re almost certainly not the kind of foreigner those signs are aimed at.

14. I’ve never seen any of those signs at night clubs, restaurants, or regular hotels, but I’ve seen a few at bars, and they really don’t seem to have gotten any rarer or more common. I haven’t gone out much since the pandemic started, so I’m not sure what’s happened over the last 2 years though.

15. I’ve been in that situation twice and in both cases “foreigners” just meant US military or Chinese people.

16. What? No.

17. You’ll never be admitted to a キャバクラブ as a foreigner. Or soapland.

    But as for bars and clubs it’s about the same as Japanese people. No worse treatment because you’re foreign.

    Korea is more no foreigner allowed though

18. Yup, seen a few of those signs here in Japan. Was even told no foreigners allowed at an almost empty restaurant and the person I was with was fluent in Japanese.

19. I’ve seen one in Shinjuku Golden Gai before COVID

20. I lived in South Korea for a year back in 2019, and I never saw ‘no foreigners’ signs but I did see ‘no Japanese’ ones. This was during a big countrywide boycott of Japanese products however rather than all year round.

21. Nah never had problems. My Japanese is not even fluent. Although if I go special places I’m normally with locals

22. Have been to Japan three times, for a total of about three weeks and not once. Granted most of that time was in Hokkaido but even in Tokyo never had an issue. I’m sure it exists but I have yet to experience it.

23. Having signs displayed is far less common than it used to be.

    More often, the signs these days are more specific: “No English speaking staff here” – which I think is a better way of saying it.

    You will still see such signs in the shadier industries, but you’re not missing anything by not going there.

24. I’ve seen these signs maybe 5 or 6 times around Japan. Bars/clubs/snacks/soaplands

    At least some of them should have said “Japanese SPEAKERS only”, rather that the implied no foreigners of “Japanese only”.

25. I’ve seen signs occasionally in Tokyo and Kyoto, but never anywhere else in Japan (at least in the west where I’ve mostly been).

    You’re going to find the occasional racist asshole everywhere, but at restaurants and businesses staff sometimes act nervous because they are worried about language and you understanding them, but never prohibiting or stopping you from entering.

    One interesting sight I did come across was a sign in Chinese, not Japanese, saying “welcome visitors from Taiwan and Hong Kong”.

26. The only place I ever saw it directly and clearly was Kyoto. Other places might indirectly deny service through other means. But Kyoto had signs straight in English and Japanese saying no foreigners.

27. I lived in Korea 10 years ago, and I only knew of one bar where I lived that had a “No Foreigners” sign up. It was a big deal at the time. My impression from the Korea sub is that this is becoming more common. When I lived in Japan, I never saw a “No Foreigners” sign, though I was turned away once by a staff member at a restaurant when I was with my parents in Tokyo, I think over language concerns if I had to guess.

28. There used to be a webpage that collected images of signs that banned foreigners in Japan. It’s no longer actively collecting new signs though

    http://www.debito.org/roguesgallery.html

29. I walked into a Chinese restaurant and sat down ready to order but the guy never came over and completely ignored my existence. That’s probably my only blatant experience.

30. I drink like it’s my part time job and I’ve never seen a sign like that in years of living in Tokyo. My friend once told me he was rejected from entering a small strip club because he was a foreigner but that’s about it.

    The ones in Seoul are still around but they’ve got wise and tried to change most of the signs to say “no foreigners, because we don’t speak English”. Surprise surprise even if you speak great Korean they still won’t let you in though.

    Edit: Wait I remember one bar in Golden Gai that wouldn’t allow me in because I was a foreigner. They were a bunch of old guys and the sign said it was a Korean bar (which is why I wanted to go in, to speak some Korean). So ironically my one bar discrimination in Tokyo was maybe done by Koreans or those with Korean heritage haha. Pretty sure they’re closed down now though so guess I get the last laugh.

    I have experienced *tons* of housing discrimination though.

31. they’re more common in korea now than they were 5 years ago but still rare and easily avoidable

32. I’ve seen these threads in japan and korea subreddits. People make it sounds like it’s common but it’s not. You might see it in clubs and bars in SK but it’s still really uncommon. I don’t think I’ve ever seen signs in restaurants in SK. It’s more rare in Japan but you may come across it in “odd & random” drinking districts. If you’re planning on traveling to either country, you’ll be fine 99% of the time.

33. Ever since the US military got stricter on people leaving base to party they’ve more or less gone away. They were the source of much of the problem.

34. This was posted in a private Facebook group by someone in/near Aomori City. The OP said the sign had actually been updated to specify people (on the right side) as the “no Japanese” originally written on the left seemed to leave a question as to whether they meant language only or nationality.

    https://i.imgur.com/e8TurI8.jpeg

    Eta: OP gave permission to share with the establishment’s name blurred

35. I’ve seen a few signs around Tokyo/Kanto area in the last 15 years that said no foreigners. These were all establishments that served booze. The concern is that there may be an incident where someone gets drunk/rowdy and the issue can’t be resolved because of communication issues. They likely had a couple bad experiences to prompt this policy.

    Hell, there are apartments that don’t rent to foreigners for this reason.

    Korea I don’t know as I’ve always had at least 1 Korean friend with me and I am ethnically Korean so if they have that sort of policy, they don’t know to stop me. I haven’t noticed any signs either.

36. I’ve been to Japan many times and only once heard a hostile comment directed at me because I was a foreigner. And pretty mild at that, with a guy basically saying “There are lots of gaijin around today”. Apart from that, I’ve seen a colleague complain about such a sign in Sapporo once. Only that it was not directed at foreigners but at anyone who was not a member of the club. So I guess it doesn’t count. 😉

    I’ve lived in Korea 10 years ago as well and heard my fair share of pretty racist comments. Not negative comments, but still. A landlord once refused to rent his flat to me because he thought I was American too. When I told him I was not, he changed his mind though. Never saw a “No foreigner” sign. But I was living in an area built to attract foreign investments, so there’s that.

37. The only place I’ve ever seen with a sign was a dodgy and probably illegal “card room” in Shinbashi down a back alley. That was ages ago as well.

    If anything, Japan has become more welcoming to foreigners *at the person-to-person level*, not less.

38. One of my old friends experienced it a few years ago, and it was quite funny.
    He is a big brown dude. His grandparents were indian, but both he and his parents were born and raised in Japan. He has a full japanese name and speaks in a strong kansai dialect.

    The restaurant staff had a short circuit when he started reprimanding them for denying him entrance because of their “no foreigners” policy. He made sure that his kansai accent was even thicker than usual.

39. Why? Imagine it Australia had these signs? Lmao