Other nearby restaurant sets minimum-age of entry as well.

Like a lot of value-conscious izakaya (pubs), the Dogenzaka branch of Tori Yaro in downtown Tokyo’s Shibuya neighborhood has a bunch of signs near the entrance trumpeting their special offers and most popular menu items. However, one of the posted notices isn’t something much less common, and reads:

“Entrance limited to customers between the ages of 29 and 39

This is an izakaya for younger generations!
U-40
Pub for under 40-only”

Though not a chain-wide policy, this branch of Tori Yaro makes it very clear that it wants to be a place for 20 and 30-somethings. The sign does include the annotations that as long as one person in the party is 39 or younger, older customers will be admitted with them, and also that friends or family members of employees, as well as business partners of the restaurant, are excepted from the age restriction, but these are in much smaller print than the much more noticeable warnings that people 40 and up will not be allowed in.

▼ The restaurant and its sign

So why the age restriction? Toshihiro Nagano, a PR representative for the chain, says it’s about ensuring a match between customer preferences and the in-pub atmosphere. “Essentially, our customer base is young,” says Nagano, as the chain’s combination of low prices, casual interiors, and a boisterous vibe are all things younger diners/drinkers show a strong appreciation for. “With older customers, they tend to make a lot of complaints about the restaurant being too noisy and such, so we decided to limit who’s coming in, so that everyone can go home happy about the experience they had.”

Tori Yaro isn’t the only izakaya in the neighborhood that’s put an age restriction in place beyond that of Japan’s legal drinking age of 20. Yaoya Ba (the second restaurant shown in the above video) is a more upscale izakaya that’s also located in Shibuya, but has gone the other way, putting in admission requirements in order to keep its clientele from being too young by letting it be known that it only welcomes customers age 25 and up (though under-25s can dine if they’re in the company of an older customer). “We want to be a place where adult customers can relax and enjoy their meals,” says owner Masayuki Segawa. In order to let people who enjoyed going out in Shibuya 10 or 20 years ago enjoy doing so again, we limit admission to those 25 and older.”

The concept of different restaurants tailoring their mood and menu to cater to one demographic or another is nothing new, and, in fact, even without the explicit age restrictions, it seems like things would have naturally shaken out to Tori Yaro’s customers being primarily in their 20s and 30s, and Yaoya Ba’s skewing older. Aside from their interior designs and acoustics, theere’s a wide gulf in prices between the two, with some of Tori Yaro’s drinks so cheap that you can get a cocktail and three side dishes for about 2,000 yen (US$13), whereas that price might only get you a single dish at Yaoya Ba. Nevertheless, the two dining establishments have decided to make explicit rules about who is and isn’t being welcomed with open arms, and Japanese online reactions have been divided.

“That’s fine. As you get older and make more money, go to higher-class places.”
“Yeah, I don’t think people making regular 40-something salaries are going to go to a low-level place [like Tori Yaro].”
“This is definitely a good way to handle things. Less stress for everybody.”
“That’s discriminatory.”
“I really don’t like that there are places like this popping up.”
“I think they should find a better way communicate what sort of place their restaurants are than putting in age restrictions.”
“The average age in Japan is [over 48 years old] now.”
“Feels like this is gonna turn the [young people-only] pubs into pickup spots.”
“I think places that do this will have a hard time earning enough money and will be bankrupt within 10 years.”
“There’s a difference between people’s physical and mental ages.”
“So people from the Ice Age Generation are shut out [of Tori Yaro]?”

The “Ice Age Generation” comment is a reference to Japan’s so-called Employment Ice Age, a social phenomenon that took place from the mid-’90s to mid-2000s. With the collapse of Japan’s Bubble Economy, companies severely cut back on hiring, new-employee salaries, and the regular wage increases which had been the norm for decades before. The result is a generation of Japanese adults who were too young to enjoy the steady income growth that their parents did, and who are also too old to benefit from the boost to new-hire salaries being offered by large companies in Japan in the current entry-level job market. As such, the idea that people in their 40s and up have no interest in, or need for, affordable dining options isn’t really true, and explains who a large number of commenters have bristled at the idea of an upper-age limit for a lower-priced restaurant.

As for the question of whether or not the age limits constitute an illegal form of discrimination, it’s a bit of a gray area. When asked what they would do if someone from outside the stated allowed ages were to ask for a table or reservation, Yaoya Ba (which allows customers under 25 if they’re dining with someone who’s older) says that it instead recommends one of its nearby affiliate restaurants with younger clienteles. Tori Yaro, meanwhile, admits that, despite the sings saying no one over 40 can get in without an under-40 companion or a personal connection to the staff, the restaurant actually will admit over-40 customers, after some negotiation. “We explain that ‘Our restaurant is noisy. Is that OK with you?’” says Nagano, and that if the customer is agreeable to the condition, they may enter. “’If we talk and it’s a case of ‘I’m older than 40, but I have the spirit of a 20-something,’ then they’re welcome.”

It’s worth noting, though, that asking someone to bend the rules for you is something that, culturally speaking, isn’t done very often in Japan. With Tori Yaro’s pre-posted sign saying that diners over 40 aren’t admitted, and the workaround of “unless you’re OK with the noise level” being something that is kept, essentially, a secret until someone asks if it’s OK for them to break the rule, for the vast majority of would-be customers the result is likely to be the same as an iron-clad ban.

Source: Tele Asa News via Yahoo! Japan News via Itai News, YouTube/ANNnewsCH
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert image: Pakutaso
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