Honestly title says it all I was in there for less than 30 seconds and I feel pretty bummed. I have been practicing my japanese and building the courage to go into this place. The owner asked if I spoke Japanese I said “chotto” and he just said “gomene” looked at me and then the door.
Pretty bummed tbh.
That’s all 🙁
42 comments
What kind of izakaya was that?
Always surprises me how some Japanese business owners apparently don’t like making money. You’re so xenophobic you’re gonna kick someone out just because of that?
This sucks, but don’t let this discourage you for good. Of course there will be that one bad apple, but not all izakaya will be like this. Keep hunting different places! Eventually you will find an Izakaya you can call a second home (I’m not an alcoholic)
If it’s small, the owner/chef probably has customers that eat there daily/often They probably all know each other and talk about their day. Heck you’ll probably be brought up and they’ll all have a chuckle. The point is, the place is most likely very small and he wants to keep his seats for people he knows and can talk to.
Tokyo?
Kanagawa? Lol. I thought people there would be cool….
That’s bad luck. There is a place here in Fukuoka called “smile” …apparently the owner loves telling people they are not welcome. And I thought this was the land of omotenashi
Had the same thing happen to me in Sapporo. Later when I took a look at the reviews on Google maps, apparently the place had been discriminating against other foreign customers as well. Like ignoring Korean and Chinese customers and not giving them towels, etc. Came to the conclusion that it’s better not to give your money to places like that and instead find a better izakaya that treats all of their customers equally.
Same thing happened to me. I guess xenophobia is real deal in Japan
At least you got asked instead of having an English menu shoved in your face without so much as a greeting.
It’s Japan, Japanese are racist. Sorry you had to experience that, but set your expectations lower. You’re a gaijin, after all.
I thought at first it was a “not wanting to deal with tourists “ thing but it was a local place?? That’s just rude. Imagine doing that to someone who didn’t speak English fluently. And so disheartening when you actually are trying to get out there and speak Japanese. Sorry that happened.
You should leave a 1-star rating on Google. Owner is an ass..
Reading the title at first glance I thought it sounded like racism but reading thru the comments i also feel the same as some commenters.
Not trying to defend the place but the fact that they didn’t turn you away based on your appearance and first asked if you spoke Japanese before having you leave makes it seem less a sign of racism and more a sign of business convenience because of language barriers. It seems like if you were able to speak and communicate at a certain level then there wouldn’t have been much of a problem.
Yes, you may have money but if you can’t read the menu/understand the system and no one at the place speaks English or can/wants to translate everything for you, your business may become more of a stressful inconvenience. They could also lose money by having to take attention away from other customers because they need to try to explain things to you. So they probably turned you away for both your sakes.
I know how hard and embarrassing it can be to try to use Japanese when you’re not confident, but remember, it also goes the same way for Japanese people when they’re forced to use English when they don’t want to. Especially during work hours.
My advice if you wanna try there again in the future is to ask if it’s alright just to drink. If you just say you’re there for a beer or cocktails you basically don’t need any Japanese. Then once seated take a look at the menu and learn how to read/say things you want on your own time.
I was refused service by a big name brand car rental place because “it was too hard to deal with gaijin”… i specifically went there because that company had good reviews for “dealing with gaijin”. I had a Japanese lady with me to translate everything.
I sat down at a bar in Sapporo and had a fun conversation with the bartender in broken English and Japanese. He was a huge fan of Fist of the North Star and wanted to tell me all about it.
Don’t lose heart. There is no shortage of izakaya in Japan. Just pick a different one!
I had that happen in Tokyo once, never anywhere else and I go to a lot of small towns overnight, most people are very nice.
Fuck him. Take your Yen somewhere else.
how do you know he refused service because you don’t speak japanese if you don’t speak japanese?
I am sorry:( This happened to me twice in Mexico when I couldn’t speak Spanish. So embarrassing and heartbreaking for me.
I was almost denied entry to a “snack” once, but the reason the bar lady let me in was because I could speak. She said that she was worried about not being able to understand foreign customers, especially if there was a problem. There certainly are racists out there, but there are also just a lot of people that don’t quite know what to do when a foreigner walks in the door. And if there are only one or two people working and no one can speak the language of the customer.. I kind of get it. Plus, small izakaya and bars have regulars that want to come in and talk to the people there, and having someone who can’t really communicate with anyone there can make the mood weird.
You can maybe think of it like an exclusive club where the requirement is that you have to at least speak some conversational Japanese. Until you get to a bit higher level, you may just be stuck with chain izakaya.
I think he understood ちょっとas ちょっと難しい i.e. “No..”
I was in a small bar run by a Japanese lady and a group of Japanese started to come in and she said “Sorry, members only.” They turned and left. I asked her “When did I become a member?” She laughed and explained that she would rather the keep the seats open for regulars who brought in more money in the long term. This also happened in another bar so I don’t think it is exclusively down to excluding foreigners.
I have been turned away a couple of times for being a foreigner or even just not served and it never fails to sting. I generally don’t bother going into small local places without a Japanese friend for this reason.
There are also numerous reasons and quirks that might irk or surprise someone. Some I have come across:
* It’s a gay bar.
* It’s keep-bottle only bar.
* You have no choice but to accept a small pricy dish to start.
* It’a a handwritten menu.
* It’s super pricy for some special reason.
* The owner is super self conscious about not speaking English.
* Some foreigner was an ass in the past.
Any of the above might be a reason to not to let someone come in if they were perceived not to understand.
I’m sorry this happened to you. There’s no excuse for this sort of behavior, even if there is some form of reasoning behind it for the specific bar.
Damn, reading the comments, so many posters here are so damn thirsty to like xenophobe boot.
Is the motto of this sub, “step on me, racist daddy” or what?
This is an exception, I suppose, but doesn’t surprise me. You can always leave them a shitty comment on Google Maps.
It’s ok man I was asked to leave a clinic and a hospital once on the same day.
I understand how bummed you are and sorry to hear you had this experience. There are plenty of places that’s foreigner friendly Izakaya around your Area (if you’re around Ebina) since I’m from there.
From what it sounds like after reading your post and the owners reaction, this does not seem to be racially motivated but language and cultural barrier related. If he was racist, he would not bother to ask if you spoke Japanese, immediately turn you away. Another thing could be that the owner is aware that regulars there may dislike foreigners and may cause trouble once they get drunk.
Izakayas have rules and etiquette that’s not common sense to foreigners. It’s not just as simple as ordering a beer and fried food. Mannerism and how you order is very important.
Also, Izakayas will usually have non-photo Menus and all kanji(some even very difficult to read as it could be hand written).
Another big issue is that Izakayas may serve Whale and Horse meat, which foreigners who visit Japan gets disgusted and upset over demanding a refund(I’ve seen it in Tokyo). There is nothing more irritating for Izakayas to deal with than that.
There are plenty of foreigner friendly Izakayas and not all of them are like the ones you experienced. Countryside Japan is another thing though…
Go to a different bar OP. There are plenty of good ones who won’t mind letting you practice your Japanese and regulars who would be happy to help you. You did nothing wrong, just try somewhere else until you find a good vibe.
Stand up for yourself. Say you can read the menu. Say you’ll ask for omakase if not. Say you are really hungry and want to order a lot of food and drinks. Say you have a lot of money you want to spend. If they still refuse you, then fuck that place and leave a 1 star review on all the platforms.
You’re in Japan at least, you could be in another country wanting to go to Japan. That sucks more.
A place did this to me once, in my old local hood. The place was right near Higashi Nakano station, and I felt like Yakitori one night. They laughed me out of the place. Told all my mates and they steered clear in disgust.
I should mention, I could speak Japanese and can speak it at a capable business(ISH) level. They eventually said “We don’t want your kind in here” after trying “Ah, Japaniizu onrii menyu!” and “Manzeki desu” as the place was deserted.
A few months later, after many “reduced prices!” placards and tissue-givers outside the place — they even handed them to me! — they closed down, and I haven’t felt schadenfreude that strong in a while!
Many many other better places out there. If you exclude people because they can’t speak Japanese — and who’ll that be? Foreigners/tourists! — they’re Xenophobic trash anyway.
I’ve been refused a gym membership and it was in their printed rules.
This happened to me once. The next night I walked past the same place and they had placed a handwritten “no foreigners” sign in the window. First and only time that happened but definitely felt bad. This was Tokyo.
Well, think of it as an opportunity to motivate you study the language more. No need to be angry or sad about it when you do something about it.
Can you provide more context exactly how you were asked to leave? Are you 100% sure you were being told explicitly to leave?
This happened to me in 2015 in Piss Alley.
I had a similar experience back in 2018 at tsukiji market. I was bringing a friend around and it was his first time to Japan. He picked the place and when we went to enter the owner asked the same thing. I was already conversational with my Japanese so I said yes and he allowed us in.
What followed was probably one of the most awkward and baffling experiences I’ve had. The food was fine, but the owner spent the _entire_ time just ranting about all and any foreigners.
Literally, he’d see like a white couple walk past and start ranting about how Americans have no manners or don’t know how to use chopsticks; see an East Asian family walk past and start talking about how noisy Chinese tourists are, how their kids always leave a mess and don’t know how to behave etc etc.
Thankfully my friend was blissfully unaware and just kinda smiled confusedly and nodded along, meanwhile I was conflicted about how I was supposed to react, given I was a foreigner too(???) though I’ve been mistaken as Japanese sometimes before. But my friend is Sri Lankan so yea, pretty clearly not Japanese lol and we were talking to each other in English.
Unfortunately, it happens. Happened to me and some friends a few years ago in Tokyo, but they didn’t even ask if we spoke Japanese. They saw that we were foreigners and then made an X with his arms and then pointing to the door. As soon as we walk out, they seat a group of three Japanese guys that walked in. I had a friend refused service to a barber once for being a foreigner, even though he had his Japanese wife with him.
Like I said, it happens. Now you know not to go there. Spend your money elsewhere.
That’s just very poor customer service (´._.`)
Sucks, but forget about it and find another place. You would have probably gotten the shit gaijin service anyway.
Give me the name and address of the izakaya.
I’m unhappy as a japanese.