Last night around 10 pm, my friend and I were walking around Nakano trying to find a gyoza spot, and every single place turned us away saying "Sorry, we just did our last order. We went to 4 different places before settling on a ramen joint that's open till 4 am. He was like: Yea, the economy is bad. Is it true that a lot of izas are closing early because of the economy, and if so, why would closing early help?
by JayDunzo
16 comments
If there are no customers, closing early saves on utilities plus labour costs. Of course there are places run by just one person who works 18 hour days.
Idk about if it’s true or not but regarding the second point, why would it help it’s simple really.
If you’re open you have to pay for a lot of things, like electricity, staff salary etc. so if you don’t get enough customers to offset the cost and make a profit, it makes sense to close early.
So if a shop notices over time people tend to not come so much after 11pm, 10pm etc. why stay open and pay one or more staff to just sit in an empty store?
Did you consider that this weekend is Obon and many places have reduced hours, if not closed entirely?
No. Not true.
Yes, since COVID.
Out of all of the elements that go into this, including economy, if I had to choose one to be the “critical factor”, it would be labor availability. The service industry in Japan has been struggling with finding workers for a while now and it’s been getting progressively worse. Can’t keep izas open if there’s no people to keep the izas runnin’.
But as others have pointed out, this week is obon so you’re going to be seeing earlier hours and closures in general.
I noticed this too last year when some family members came to visit and it took us over an hour to find an izakaya open in Shinjuku after a late flight. I think it’s less true of ‘local’ non-chain places, though.
I read that izakayas took a big hit during COVID and never really recovered. People aren’t going out to drink at night as much as they used to.
Staff is paid 1300 yen an hour, it’s okay if they close shop in time to catch the last train.
Nakano is on the quieter side too, late night
I live near Nakano station. Since I’ve lived here all of the bars and izakayas I know of or walk past close before midnight, often by 10 pm. That’s why I usually don’t go drinking around here.
Post covid has had a lot of places keep their original times. Honestly it makes it easier to make the last train home.
I was in tokyo in 2016 and Izakayas were generally opened pretty late.
I was in Omoide Yokocho last week, and every spot was closed by 10-11pm.
Very disappointing, and this was a Saturday-Sunday.
You gotta go to places that have that late night culture.
Hibiya/Shinbashi, Akabane, Koenji, some places in Ueno and Baba. (Some shady places in Kabukicho.)
You’re right that there aren’t as many as there used to be, but I think there’s been a bit of a culture shift, especially late night.
I was in nakano Jan and Feb this year. Was lively but Sunday’s to Wednesday’s not too lit passed 11pm
Yes outside of major areas like Shinjuku etc izakaya close way earlier than they used to since Covid. It used to be even out in like Chiba many were open until 5am but that has stopped. Seems like 12:00am on weekends is the latest anyone stays open anymore