居酒屋 (Izakaya) – Japanese pub

21st May – 皐月

Have you ever heard of Izakaya? It’s a type of Japanese pub where you can have alcohol and food. It opens in the evening and many of them opens till midnight, some places open till morning.

Izakaya has many foods which cost around hundreds yen up to thousands yen per plate. In most cases, alcohol costs at least about 400 yen. As each menu is cheap and small, people order variety of foods from the menu.

This is pretty common drinking place, people go not only with friends but also often with coworkers. In Japan, it is normal go for a drink with boss, upper positioned people to keep a good relationship in the work place.

In case when you get a chance to go to Izakaya, I would like to introduce Izakaya rules, mainly with workmates!

-where you seat does matter.

When you are escorted to the seats / room, the seat position implies who are upper and lower position in work place – Generally, the further the seats are from the door, the higher the person’s position is. Thus, the lowest position (newbies) have seats close to the door. For the long table, boss should take a seat in the middle area. If the room is 和室 (Washitsu = Japanese style room with Tatami, some ornaments in 床の間(Tokonoma = alcove)), Boss should take a seat in front of Tokonoma. Where boss takes seat is called 上座 (Kamiza), close from the door area is called 下座 (Shimoza).

-お通し (Oto-shi)

Before ordering any food, waiter / waitress brings food which nobody asked for. This is called お通し(Oto-shi). The purpose of this food is to fill in the time until the ordered food comes. Normally in Izakaya, people order drinks first and drink will come quick but food does not. Therefore, お通し is a snack for the first drink. In most case, お通し will be charged and it costs about 300 to 500 yen. Some places take this as seat charge, so be ready for it!

-do not drink or eat until 乾杯 (Kanpai)

Even your drink comes before everybody, you have to wait until everybody gets drinks. After 乾杯 (Kanpai = cheers), you can finally enjoy drinking and eating!

For Japanese culture, if other people’s glass is empty, you should encourage the person to drink (You can reject the drinks if you do not want anymore). This poring alcohol for others is peculiar culture in Japan, called お酌文化 (Oshaku Bunka). Furthermore, if you pour drink by yourself, it means you think others are inconsiderate, therefore maybe it is better to wait till others recommend you! When other person pour the drink for you, you should hold the glass with both hands.

-3 types of payment

There are 3 different situation for paying the bill after Izakaya drinking with coworkers:

1. Higher position people pay for all = 奢り　(Ogori)

2. Higher position people pay more amount than others. 傾斜配分 (Keisha Haibun)

3. Everybody pay the same amount = 割り勘 (Warikan)

Any situation, it is a manner to show the attitude of willing to pay, so at least taking a wallet from the bag is better. If not doing it, probably the higher position people would think about you as impudent person!

Recently, I have heard that there are some scamming Izakaya where deceive foreigners to charge more than Japanese customers. Therefore, it is better to check the reviews when you choose where to go!