NOT ONLY SUSHI Chapter 4 (Pietro0

Tabehoudai and nomihoudai are two words that might be useful and you will surely learn if you go out with friends in Japan.

In Japan there is, of course, a huge variety of bars. But one of the most popular places to go is the izakaya, a very Japanese compromise between a bar and a restaurant. When you enter an izakaya you will be assigned a room just for you and your friends, the bigger your group the bigger the room will be. Every room is separated by the others, soetimes by just paper walls and often you can see parts of other rooms from yours. The idea, though, is that in an izakaya every group of friends finds a place to talk, laugh, joke and have fun while eating and drinking. At the entrance of many izakayas you will be asked to take off your shoes as rooms often do not have chairs but low tables and cushions where you can sit. You will also find special slippers to wear in case you want to go to the bathroom.

There are many kinds of izakaya. Some are very simple, other extremely refined. But if many bars aim only at a certain type of customers –young students or businessmen- izakayas, with their private rooms, can aim at a much broader clientele.

In places like Shibuya or Ikebukuro you will find very special izakayas, sometimes more similar to theme parks. For example, you can dine in a prison/war scene style izakaya, where the waitress who welcomes you will have you handcuffed and will scan your friends looking for nuclear radiations on their clothes. Or where some other waiters are dressed like zombies and go around the place trying to scare people for the delight of the customers who take pictures while screaming excited.

But let’s go back to tabehoudai and nomihoudai. When Japanese people go to an izakaya –and generally to restaurants- they will probably order many dishes that are placed at the centre of the table with everybody free to take from them. As it is very likely that you will drink a lot in an izakaya –and Japanese people in particolar- you probably do not want to keep looking at the menu and keep count of the prices. If you choose tabehoudai and nomihoudai (which can be translated “All you can eat” and “All you can drink”) you will be able to pay for the time you stay in the izakaya, instead of for what you eat and drink. Thus, you will be free to just order food and drinks without thinking at your bill becoming huge as in the end you will pay the fixed price, which for a couple of hours in a normal izakaya is around 30-35 euro –but the price can vary quite a lot with the quality of the place and the food. The only problem is that the “free food” bonanza that will result from this will make you eat and drink way beyond your limit!