In the bowels of a commercial building in Tokyo’s Shinbashi neighbourhood there is little to suggest that office workers seeing in the year of the snake have lost their appetite as they tuck into plates of charcoal-grilled chicken, bowls of edamame and flasks of sake. Calls of “Irasshaimase!” welcome new diners.
It wasn’t that long ago that curfews and alcohol bans introduced to limit the spread of Covid-19 forced izakaya – informal, boozy salons that range in size from cosy joints serving yakitori (chicken skewers) to cavernous spaces with seemingly endless menus – to call last orders at what would have been the busiest time of the evening.
The pandemic has passed, but Japan’s thousands of izakaya are battling soaring costs and declining demand. Often described as Japanese-style pubs, izakaya…
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Guardian Weekly (Digital) - 1 Issue, 31 January 2025