izakaya (Page 4)
This Ikebukuro izakaya just gave us an 8,000-yen discount, and they’ll happily do the same for you.
Intended penalty for bad manners backfires, prompts pub to make drastic change to its beer pricing policy.
Four other restaurants in Tokyo also start selling unprecedentedly generous unlimited-beer-and-cocktail passes.
If you know where to look, you’ll be able to try a jugful of noodles that nobody wanted the owner to create.
Shockingly generous deal even lets you go home, take a break, and come back for more booze.
With photo booths, cosplaying staff, and costume rental for diners, this is one of the most unusual food courts you’ll find in Japan.
The lure of cheap booze is hard to resist, but before you follow that discount-promising tout, take a moment to check what clothes he’s wearing.
Possibly because he felt disciplining an undesirable employee would have been too awkward, one supervisor turned to poison instead.
Japan’s infamous bar barkers often won’t take no for an answer, but one veteran says this response will stop them in their tracks.
With themed rooms and waiters who act as teachers and nurses, you’ll never want to leave elementary school again!
See all that mouth-watering Japanese-style karaage fried chicken? It only cost us 100 yen, and we could have eaten twice as much without getting charged any more.
Are traditional bars a little too bland for you? Do you try to strike up conversations about anime with your fellow drink enthusiasts, only to get weird looks and asked to leave?
Well then you should check out Otarabo the anime bar! Not only does it have a large assortment of alcoholic beverages to enjoy, but it’s packed to the rafters with anime posters, figures, and toys. And best of all if you want to argue about Goku vs. Vegeta, or which Love Live! girl is the cutest, you’ll have plenty of inebriated otaku friends to discuss with.
Getting pounded into the turf by a 40-meter (131-foot) tall martial artist who can shoot beams of energy from his hands can’t be an easy lifestyle. So last year when a restaurant opened in Kawasaki to honor the giant monsters and aliens who so often end up on the losing side of the battles in the Ultraman franchise, we thought it was nice they now had a place to relax, enjoy some tasty food, and knock back a few beers between regularly getting pummeled by the good guys.
Of course, we Earthlings were also welcome at the establishment, called the Kaiju Sakaba (“Monster Pub”). We stopped by shortly after the place opened last year, and all of the Ultraman-themed decorations made us feel like we were little kids again (well, at least until our first round of alcoholic drinks arrived, anyway). And then we felt like little kids again as wept in sadness upon hearing the Kaiju Sakaba was closing last March.
But, just like the ending of each installment of the Ultraman saga gives way to the next chapter, the Kaiju Sakaba is coming back to Kawasaki later this month, and this time it’s here to stay!
MOVIE LIFE KYOTO is a video series which aims to introduce Japanese culture to foreigners in a light-hearted and humorous fashion. With English narration and Japanese subtitles, they’re filled with little factoids and hilariously on-point observations that will be of interest to foreign visitors and a source of much ‘that’s so true!’ amusement for Japanese people, too!
We live in a world of innovation and inspiration. Every day, we see new products riffing on older ones, and apps that are purporting to be the next Instagram for Snapchat inspired by Vine.
But when does something cease to innovate and become a simple knock-off? Would you consider “Word・Press” a different web service from “WordPress”? How about if someone opened up a hamburger joint called “McDonalds” instead of “McDonald’s”? Well one izakaya in Hiroshima, Japan tested out this first example for us, and found that simply slipping a dot into its name didn’t allow it to get around copyright and trademark laws.
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