I'm assuming that's a hard rule where we can't go with our Japanese husband / wives or family? How does this work for mixed race kids?
by soberholics
I'm assuming that's a hard rule where we can't go with our Japanese husband / wives or family? How does this work for mixed race kids?
by soberholics
18 comments
I have never encountered such a sign but if I do I would assume that the staff only speaks japanese.
There’s no global rule, just ask. In some cases they may actually just mean “nobody that can’t speak Japanese”.
Those signs are about language, not ethnicity. It basically means tourists aren’t welcome
It has never been a hard rule in my experience. It’s more a “we are not tourist/english friendly, if you can speak/act like a local, then please come in”.
If it’s about language, then you should be okay if you’re conversational. If it’s about nationality(/race), then it’s probably not worth the visit tbh.
If you are with someone japanese or can speak really good Japanese usually its fine.
Those signs are just to deter tourists, military, or people who cant speak the language so that the experience of their regulars isn’t affected.
Very rarely in my experience has that sign been in place purely for bigotry, but, it does happen so use common sense.
Visited plenty. The optimist in me always wanted it to mean language. Experience proved the optimist wrong.
Milage may vary, or whatever the clause needed for the “well I’ve been to a place and my totally nihongo perapera level was good and they loved it” crowd.
If a place had a sign like that, I would not want to go, no matter if you can get around it with a spouse or friends. I’m not going to support a business like that.
If I saw a sign like that, even though I speak good enough Japanese I would probably avoid it anyway just on the principle…
Most likely they also write “日本語。。。” not “日本人。。” , so its language things not ethnic
As long as someone in your party speaks/reads Japanese fluently (not self assesses their fluency) you’re fine.
I mean you can try and it could just be a language thing but personally speaking, as someone married to a local, I’d probably go somewhere else anyway.
Japanese only = we only speak Japanese. It’s just worded poorly.
Yes, some weird shop mean only Japanese people but most of the time it’s because they are nervous on how to communicate with non-Japanese people and a rare few are just racist. Non Japanese people that are able to communicate in Japanese won’t have any trouble at all.
My anecdotal experience is from a decade or so ago, since I live in the boonies now, but I’d say…it depends. Sometimes mixed race kids were turned away (like at bath houses/onsen which I believe is illegal nowadays). Some restaurants have said no to mixed friends in my experience as well. I’d avoid those places just to be one the safe side.
I wouldn’t want to go to it no matter who I’m with. Someone who puts up a sign like that has extreme opinions and could be potentially dangerous.
I think if they do mean Japanese PEOPLE, you can enter if you have a representative Japanese person leading you in.
But even so, I’d feel weird haha
Why would you wanna go there?
I’ve been to places saying no foreigners and it was normally a language thing.
Btw, the place people are posting around has written in japanese that “we are not a place for tourists travelers” meaning they are telling even Japanese people that are not from that area not to come.
This is well known as 「一見さんお断り」(Ichigensan Okotowari) where the owner refuses to take new people that come by themselves. So either you already know the owner or a client has to bring you.
I guess they didn’t think of saying “regular customers only” and went for “Japanese only” because it’s the easiest thing they could come up with and all their regulars are probably Japanese.
These signs used to be much more common… Whatever, go in if you feel like it. They may refuse to serve you or they may pussy out.
Plenty of places still exist that won’t serve foreigners but don’t have any such sign. Usually upper level bars.
It’s just a thing here. If you want to fight it, go for it. Some people have successfully fought against it in the past, which is why it’s so rare now.
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