Tokyo: Behind a Tokyo street lined with open signs, narrow staircases and windowless doors is a “food bar” long loved by locals but hidden from tourists.
There are food stalls, retro establishments found all over Japan, often crammed into small buildings and equipped with karaoke systems that blare into the night.
They are usually run by a woman nicknamed “mother” who treats customers with drinks such as beans, dry skids or simple baked goods.
Although it has been a part of Japanese nightlife since the post-war era, the tight spaces in fortified bars can be intimidating, especially for those who don’t speak the language.
So one company offers guided tours of restaurants like Kuriyakko in the capital’s Shimbashi business district.
Inside, black lights reflect warmly from the red wall tiles, an American family illuminates an art-deco poster with “Hey Jude” and “Take Me Home, Country Roads” belts.
“I always see signs for lunch bars, but I don’t know how to get in or what to do,” said the 30-year-old, who now lives in San Francisco and doesn’t want to. last name is printed
“That event doesn’t happen often in Japan, so it’s a great opportunity to get a real experience of bar culture in a ‘funny’ and ‘intimate’ way.”
A guide from tour company Snack Okokocho teaches the group how to order gibbons whiskey and plum wine in Japanese, and how to say “happiness” – “kanpai!” It teaches to speak.
Behind the lamp stands Kuri Awaji, the “mother” who has been running Kuriyakko for 25 years, dressed in a smartly colored kimono with her hair down in her usual style.
According to Snack Okokocho, there are about 100,000 restaurants across Japan, and most are run by women, some with male “masters”.
Although the atmosphere is less sexual than modern guest and hostess clubs and focuses on confident conversation, the diners’ history is rooted in Japan’s red light district.
After World War II, some women became sex workers for a living, but during the 1964 Olympics, anti-prostitution laws were introduced, Okokocho Snack representative Mayuko Igarashi told AFP.
So to make money, they “take ordinary wooden boxes to ordinary streets and serve drinks and food”.
Gradually, this first kitchen moved indoors, where women could manage it without having to prepare complicated dishes.
According to Igarashi, many divorce and leave children alone, hence the nickname “mom”.
“It is difficult to work during the day around children, so after going to bed women stand at the counter to work in the evening,” she said.
According to Igarashi, in the 1950s and 60s there were perhaps 200,000 diners in Japan, but that number has dwindled as the “mothers” have retired or sold up.
With the number of tourists coming to Japan today, Snack Okokocho says interest in this tour is growing.
With classic places like Curiaco, company guides take guests to themed dining bars, like the golf bar on the green.
There are also tours for Japanese women who want to experience dining culture but have reservations about knocking on closed doors.
According to Igarashi, for years the bar’s clientele was exclusively male.
But as more women joined the workforce, cafeterias became “a place to relax or talk to ‘mom’ about their problems”.
People tend to talk on social media, but nothing beats talking face to face after a bad day.
In a restaurant, people can look at each other and quickly get to know each other – even strangers. “
