Visiting an Izakaya 101: Tips and Advice from Sake on Air

0:28The people of sake actually brought me into sake. iconic beverages, sake, shochu, and of course, awamori. My name is Sébastien Lemoyne and one of your regular hosts. And today I'm joined by Imada-san, who will be co-hosting with me. And together, we'll be exploring or discussing how to enjoy izakayas. How are you doing, Imada-san? Fine. This is the first time I think I'm on the mic, especially as a host. But we do need you for this one. And I'm very happy that today we're recording from the GSS Information Center, located at the heart of Tokyo near Toranomon, because it hasn't happened for a while.

1:11And it's one of the best places in town to discover sake culture. That's true. That's true. And it's relaxing here. It's a nice atmosphere, although outside of here is very cold, chilly Sunday morning. Absolutely true. And this episode is, I mean, when preparing this episode, we've thought in particular of foreign visitors visiting Japan. And so beside izakayas that we're going to discuss, we hope that you will put the GSS Information Center on your destination list as well. So, I mean, what are izakayas? Unlike restaurants where the focus is on eating, izakayas are at the core of Japan's drinking culture.

2:01And that's a place where people enjoy snacks while drinking alcohol. We're going to examine the nature of this unique drinking place for Japanese and the characteristics of the Japanese drinking culture compared to other countries. In reality, the term izakaya covers a very wide range of establishments. from historical and authentic izakayas to standing bars or Western-style izakayas, chain restaurants. And it can be defined as an establishment where people enjoy snacks while drinking alcohol. On the other hand, as most people will know, there are lots of other establishments, such as sushi restaurants, soba restaurants, eel restaurants, Oden restaurants.

2:52that basically focus more on food. But of course, they allow people to enjoy food as snacks, to go with their drinks as well. I think that the key to enjoying an izakaya at a high level is to skillfully choose and make use of these different establishments depending on the situation. Okay, and traditional izakaya with a long history usually have some regular customers. so newcomers can be a little cautious when they want to enter the izakaya. So we'll consider the etiquettes when entering such establishments and tips for having a pleasure stay there. Izakaya also have many unique menus items that differ from those found in restaurants.

3:41So we will explain some of the most popular items, talk about how to eat that deliciously. and what kind of alcohol pairs well with them. Through this episode, we hope to help foreign tourists visiting Japan understand that there are two types of establishment in Japanese food culture. One is food-centered establishment, and another one is an alcohol-centered establishment. And spark their interest in the culture of going out to drink rather than going out to eat and encourage them to actively explore Izakaya through this episode. Yeah, looking forward to it. And before we get into the details of that, nature in Japan can be pretty wild and every year brings its catastrophes.

4:31And this year, actually about a week ago, the earth started moving again in Naomori. There have been a couple of pretty violent earthquakes there. And we have some reports of damages at breweries. I mean, nothing major at the moment, mostly repairs and money to be spent. But we will, of course, have to get ready, feel ready for other earthquakes, possibly in the future. That's true. So, you know, this time earthquake is not as bad as the one occurred in Noto Peninsula several years ago. But still, it's, you know, the coldest time of the year. So it's really harsh for the people to, you know, live through.

5:25Actually, since we're talking about the current weather and season, if you were to go to an izakaya, what sort of seasonal dishes would you like to enjoy at the end of the year? Yeah, you know, for us Japanese, winter, when winter comes, we just imagine about having oden or nabe, hot pot, is the best thing, especially if you think about drinking sake. How do we define oden? I mean, oden are basically fish cakes, vegetables, sometimes meat, cooking, in a hot... Yeah, it's kind of hot pot. Yeah, but mainly they use a mashed fish, which is deep fried. Yeah, and simmer in a pot for a long time. It's really with dashi.

6:22So it's a very soy sauce oriented dashi. So it's very Japanese taste. It's a very interesting culture as well, Oden, because it's not like the restaurants will do a new dashi every day for their Oden. And many of them take a real pride in the age of their dashi. I mean, there is this small place in Shibuya where the owner from Shizuoka says that the matrix of his dashi goes back a couple of generations. Of course, they're adding water and new dashi regularly, but they will not throw away the dashi and keep it concentrating, concentrating more and more flavors as time goes by. Yeah, that kind of thing often happens for the sauce for yakitori and unagi kind of thing, that they use it for generations as well.

7:28But, you know, it's rare to listen to that kind of dashi for oden, though. But oden has a very, you know, versatile, I mean, varieties, regionality. And Shizuoka oden is one of the thickest type of dashi, so it can be happened for Shizuoka. It's a very, very tasty preparation for sure. I like this Shizuoka type Oden. You like it? Yeah. Good. Let's talk about Izakaya's history a little. I mean, Imara-san, what do you want to share with us? Sure. Today's topic is about Izakaya. And to understand about Izakaya, I think we have to look back how Izakaya has started historically. So I would like to look back and talk a little bit about Izakaya's history.

8:25The birth of Izakaya is said to be in Heian period in 8th or 9th century. But it's only after the middle of Edo period, which is 18th century, when the ordinary people start to enjoy drinking outside sake. You know, the era before Edo period is quite unstable. We call it a war period. And there are always small wars happening all around Japan. But after Tokugawa had settled Edo era, Japan becomes stable. and before Edo period as well, sake was the kind of thing which is a little too expensive for the ordinary people to drink. So only the higher position samurais and royal people can drink sake.

9:25But after Edo, because the country becomes so peaceful after Edo, the industry has developed and people get more... I think the relationship between food and fun is very strong. I mean, you need food to survive, but enjoying food requires a climate, an atmosphere where... Right. In a peaceful world, people enjoyed food, not just to leave, but enjoy the life, right? And also in the early period, historically, the third generation of Tokugawa shogunate had started a national isolation policy. So that's from 1637, if I remember well. Yeah, well, you well know. And it lasts for like 200 years. So because of that, Japan didn't have a cultural influence from outside of the country.

10:31and that leads to the very unique culture of Japan as well. So izakaya had started at that time of the era. And maybe you don't know about this, but the number of the men and women ratio of Edo period was very, very typical. There were more men than women. We said about two-thirds of the population of Edo was men. Do you know why? Well, my understanding is that Edo was a city of samurais, and you had so many daimyos or feudal lords that had to stay in residence in Edo for some time. And then they would go back to their castle in Japanese countryside and run their clan there. but when they were traveling when they were coming to Edo they were traveling with their samurais and of course the ladies would stay behind that's true for the samurai period but that's not only samurai which was living in Japan I mean in Edo but there are also many ordinary people or man ordinary people and you know because Edo is constructing lots of roads and infrastructures and they need lots of labor.

11:57And there was a job, lots of job in Edo. So many people from outside Edo came to Tokyo to, I mean, Edo, to find a job there. That's why there are lots of laborers working, men laborers. Yeah, I mean, few people know that the Edo castle was actually on the beach literally back in 1600. So they had, they lend it. The Edo city was, is built from or on reclaimed land. That's true. These are the words we're seeking off, yeah. Lots of, lots of buildings have to, had to be down there. I live near Kagurazaka, and so I near need the, the, the, the moats that were, that were, that were dug or constructed back in the early 17th century.

12:46and there are roughly five kilometer moats between Idabashi and Nagatacho today I would say and I understand that this five kilometer moat was built in about three months, that means that it involves tens and tens of thousands of workers. That's true, you need so many people there. There are lots of people living in Iro and And Edo region was not as wide as nowadays. So the household is really small there. They're mostly living in the house called Nagaya, which is very small. For one household, it's only about 10 square meters. That's the regular size of the household there. So they don't have enough space to cook by themselves.

13:42They have a very small, how do you call it, kondo. But they only boil water and cook rice there. That's the only thing they usually do. And they basically buy food, the side dishes from outside to eat. So they don't cook. They eat, you know. Actually, if you want to see that, you can. And there is a small museum called Fukagawa Edo Museum in the eastern part of Tokyo. And they have resurrected or rebuilt Nagayas and other buildings as they looked like in the late Edo period. So now that you're mentioning it, I do encourage our listeners to visit that small museum. That's true. That's interesting.

14:32And you can figure out for yourself. And it shows a couple of stands, a couple of these izakaya stands. That's true. So there weren't restaurants in Edo at that time. So they basically eat at home. So they buy, in terms of sake, they buy sake at the liquor shop and bring home to drink it. But some liquor shops started to make people drink sake at their store. you know standing bar style we call it kakuuchi nowadays and some started there and after a while some liquor shops start to serve some delicacies over there and that's the that's set to be the starting point of izakaya because the izakaya in japanese literally means stay in liquor shop right?

15:27E means to stay. So, and Sakaya is a liquor shop. So they stay in liquor shop to drink and eat. That's the birth of Izakaya. And then actually there is a very, very famous Izakaya style liquor shop, which is called Toshimaya, which still exists in Tokyo. I went there the other day and you know it was very famous and there's a picture the listeners can't see this but this is the picture of the Toshimaya and there are so many people around this liquor shop so it was very popular and it's popular that they have served a delicacies called Tofu Dengaku Tofu Dengaku Tofu is a tofu yes people know tofu nowadays you think and they put miso on it and bake it with a bamboo steel skewer and they still serve it so if if the listener have any chance to come to Tokyo visit Toshimaya Sakaten can be one's destination and it still exists actually yeah it's a small it's a small liquor shop but they serve that tofu dengak over there it's a standing bar Small.

16:50And there is an equivalent today which comes from Kyoto where they don't use tofu but they use gluten as well. But it's the same spirit on a skewer, gluten with miso on it. And I understand it's more a Kyoto dish than a Tokyo dish. Yeah, historical Tokyo dishes uses tofu. Nowadays we use, you know, eggplants and konnyaku. Konnyaku is what you mean by gluten? No, no, no. I mean... Awahu? No. No. If it's who? Namahu. Namabu, namabu. Namabu? Namabu. Okay. Yeah, they often use that namabu with a misos on it. And they call it... Maybe they call it dengaku. I don't know. I don't know if they call it dengaku.

17:48They maybe call it Namabu with Miso. Miso Namabu. When I am in an izakaya, I order it as Namabu. So Namabu is the name of it in Kyoto. Oh, sorry, Madison. We actually have someone new who is coming. So it's just like in an izakaya when someone's late to the party. That's true. That's true. But not because they overslept in the case of an izakaya. Shame on you, Chris. Yeah, so we're joined by Chris Hughes. Hello, hello everyone. Nice to be here. Did you have too much of an izakaya last night? No, I wasn't drinking last night. I think it's the cold. It's got really cold here in Tokyo, hasn't it?

18:32And my room is really cold. So no, it's not a good excuse. But yeah, I overslept a little bit. But it's great to be here. And I look forward to contributing to this conversation about izakaya. Looking forward to having you. We were discussing the history of izakaya and how it evolved. Imada-san, you want to conclude or finish? Well, I talk enough about the history, I think. So, birth of the izakaya. So, that's the birth of the izakaya, which is standing bar style or kakuuchi style. But we don't call kakuuchi or standing bar style izakaya in Japan anymore, usually. So we use that term for another kind of type of restaurant now.

19:22First, places where we sit. I think izakaya is our places where we sit. Right. Usually we sit. But there are several types of izakaya as well. So you need some more explanation about that. But izakaya is basically a place where it's not too expensive, basically. and where many people can gather together and have fun and can be a little noisy compared to restaurants. I agree. I mean, very often when people arrive in Tokyo, they're very surprised by how quiet subways are, how quiet building elevators are. And it's true that out of respect for others in the street, in common, in open places, public places, Japanese people tend to stay quiet, be on the quiet side.

20:19And in a restaurant, we are usually quietly eat. Absolutely. I mean, in many sushi places in particular, you have very quiet moments, very silent moments, and it's part of enjoying the food and concentrating on it. But izakayas can be completely different. and that's where you really see that open up yourself I'm a foreigner so I'm looking at it from the outside but that's how you where you can understand that Japanese people love having a laugh and having fun and making fun on others and making fun of themselves as much as other cultures and this happens in izakaya a lot I think it's stress relief in the case maybe of Japanese culture, right?

21:08Because in the Japanese workplace, it's incredibly rigid. I was quite surprised the first time I actually got to work in a proper company in Japan as part of work experience for a company I was working for in the UK. I was surprised how quiet everyone is in the office. And there's almost a harmony that you, if anyone dares to interrupt it, you sort of feel like you could get in a lot of trouble. but then when everyone goes out after work at night they just release all this stress um i mean you know i i come from a country where drinking is also a big part of the culture you know you have the uh the stereotypical view perhaps of a british person drinking and you wouldn't be wrong but you know and british pubs are very very noisy i can tell you very very noisy it's hard to get a word in edgeways but yeah there is something quite um different about the the culture in the case of japan i think it feels like it feels like stress relief that first kanpai at the beginning right it's like you don't do that in britain we don't really do no in a british pub there isn't really a toast you just trying you're trying to get a beer as quickly as possible yeah get that beer and start drinking as quickly as possible i mean someone might do a cheers i suppose but it's it's It's not really common.

22:30And it doesn't really feel like stress relief. It just feels like, you know, continuing. It's true. Yeah. We Japanese do Kanpai. We have to do that. Yeah. It's the first moment of, I mean, nobody drinks before the Kanpai happens. You have to wait. And it feels like everyone's bottling in this tension. And they just can't wait to get rid of it. And once they're able to get rid of it, I mean, people change. It's quite scary to see, in a good way, I think, also. But, you know, I was quite shocked. Do I really know these people? They just turn into completely different people once they're drinking.

23:03I'm not saying that's necessarily an alcohol thing. I think it really is just kind of, that's who they really are. But they weren't able to really show that side of themselves until they walked into this establishment. Yeah, so we, Japanese, used Izakaya as a team-building place. Very, very important. Everyone lowers their barriers and there are no more differences between people due to ERC, to their level of organization. And so a lot happens in Izekiahs, actually. Yeah, but if you're the lackey, you still have to pour the drinks for the boss, right? Yeah, that's... Would you say that's maybe in more higher-end restaurants and things?

23:50I think in the Izekiah as well, the business culture continues a little bit, doesn't it? Maybe. Maybe. You know, and we Japanese don't have a culture of doing a home party so much, you know, compared to European or Western people, I think. So, izakaya is one of the places to do that kind of social... To meet with your family and not only your colleagues, that's true, and your friends. Yeah, with your friends, not only the colleagues, but the friends. in the French culture I must say I don't see a real equivalent to isakaya's if you think of a place where you go to for a drink first before a meal I mean a bar would be the obvious, a cafe actually would be the obvious place but then the food culture is fairly limited, in most cafes you will get nuts or sometimes croque monsieur, but you don't have the equivalent, I think, in the French culture.

24:55So let's imagine that we're arriving in Tokyo and we want to have an izakaya dinner. Where do we start? What's the first step? The first step is to enter the place and we want to invite all our listeners to never hesitate opening the door and entering the and entering the Nizakaya you very often actually most Japanese restaurants will have a Noren how would you describe and how would you define a Noren it's like a curtain with it's like you know the sort of dividers that you have sometimes in restaurants right you have those little bead things in restaurants don't you between the kitchen and the place where everyone's eating the patrons are but instead of like little like strings with beads on it's basically a curtain with a split in the middle but there are different actually different styles of norin right and i know madison is an expert but it's usually uh put in front of the restaurant yes and if it's there it means that that the place is open yeah that's very important if you see the norin you can get in right and when the restaurant wants to close, they remove the Noren and then it's closed.

26:11There is no point trying to enter. That's a very important part of it. Because it has, I guess, historically it had a role in keeping some of the dust away and protecting a little bit against the cold or against the wind. But in today's cities, that function has kind of disappeared. But it remains a very important symbolic function sign, yeah. As an izakaya. And it has the name of the place as well on it often. So you know that this place is called nani nani ya-san kind of thing, right? And, you know, noren can be a cloth as well as string, as you, Chris, mentioned. It's different. And the string, string noren, is usually the sign of the very taishu izakaya, very casual Izakaya uses that string we call it nawa noren and nawa noren is another word for a casual izakaya in Japanese nawa noren what did you say again?

27:18nawa noren nawa is a string yeah like a rope isn't it and the noren is the name of this divider between the outside and the inside another thing you often see in front of izakaya is a lantern red lantern right which in Japanese is called Akachochin Akachochin is one of the big signs of the izakaya as well so if you find that big red lantern that means that's izakaya as well and if the light is on it means you can enter if the light is off it's closed so you're there, the noren is there the lantern is on so you slide the door open and then the first thing you do is something with your hand. I think that's actually what I do, is using your fingers.

28:12You're just showing how many people you are, how big your group is. That's the most important information the owner wants to hear from you. And because during that peak, slide the door a little bit, you can see the atmosphere inside and how clouded the place is. so then you can judge if you can enter or not right and if you think you can enter it you show the the number of the people you're in your group yeah yeah that's that's another symbol cool of the noran it's kind of hiding keeping the mystery of what's behind but as you slide the door open it slowly reveals itself right it's very poetic it's gonna be very cool can't it you You can just sort of slightly see inside, but there's still a bit of mystery there.

29:00And you can hear as well very often. As soon as you open that door, you hear everyone drinking and having fun. Right, that the voice comes out as you open it. Which can be a little bit intimidating if you've never been to an izakaya before, because like you were saying earlier, it's really quite loud. Right. And usually you will be welcome with a very loud izakaya as well. Yes, yes. A big hirashai-mase. Yes. is often what welcomes you. Correct. And then sometimes there might be an area for you to remove shoes if it's a no-shoes izakaya. So then maybe you don't actually get up to the level that the izakaya is on straight away, but you just kind of go up to the genkan area, which is the area where you remove shoes.

29:48And then again, someone will come over and invite you in. To be fair, most izakaya probably that that's not going to be the case but in a lot of chain is the guy is that right right right well it's a new new type yeah in the old days did they not they don't really have

30:07yeah that's right and then you sit and the first thing you have to do is order a drink you don't order food you order drink yes yes and before that you they usually you know brings you Ohashi and Otefuki first. Do you know what Otefuki is? Can you explain what Otefuki is? Oshibori. Oshibori, right. Yeah, so it's like a little towel which will be a different temperature depending on what the season is. So if it's the winter right now, you would expect to get a warmed towel. And if it's the summer, you would get actually a cold towel. So, you know, basically it's for you to refresh and reset and prepare yourself for this experience.

30:49and wash your hands wash your hands yeah as well and you actually expect it to keep it in relatively good shape like you unroll it you wash your hand and you roll it and you leave it on the side because there won't be any napkins given to you, sometimes you have tissues on the table but this will be your napkin for the evening so keep it I won't say keep it clean because by definition you're using it to clean your fingers or your hands but it's not something that you would dump in the middle of the table or you have to keep it next to you and roll. Right. Because some of the delicacies, you have to use your fingers to eat it, like edamame.

31:34You mentioned ohashi, but of course ohashi is chopsticks.

31:40And after you order your first drink, some food will come. And don't be surprised because most often it's food that you have not ordered. that's true that's that's a very typical very special yeah you know well before the food comes would you do the kanpai first maybe before you order the food what do you think or because it always feels like they want to do that kanpai as quickly as possible right as quickly as possible yeah so before you order food someone's probably going to once the drinks have all arrived yeah so so you start drinking first yeah you do kanpai and start drinking first and for a while you talk and think about the menu.

32:19And what do people order in Japan first, Imada-san, normally for the kanpai? I don't. I'm the exception, but yeah, many people order beer. There is a phrase in Japanese, right? Toriaizu biru, which means basically for the time being, beer. beer yeah for a long time Japanese has been doing that yeah yeah I was doing that when I was younger but you order sake at first yeah I order a meishu actually I like a glass of a meishu on the rocks before I dive into sake yeah it's still technically in the sake category isn't it when I was mentioning food that you did not order I was thinking of the otoshi so there is only a small dish that changes every day yeah which was prepared by the chef and is brought to you like you would find bread on a Western restaurant table.

33:18Yeah. And you have not ordered it. You can ask what it is. Yes. But it's going to be given to you. Yeah. And it's basically, it's in the charge. There's a charge for it in the bill at the end. But at least you're getting something for this extra charge. And I think the service that you get in Japanese establishments is on a different level. So I think the fact that you don't have to tip here and you don't have to pay a service charge, you know, to just have this little otoshi is not too bad. It can be a little expensive sometimes, but, you know, generally not. Less than a thousand yen. Less than a thousand yen, yeah.

33:54So it's a service charge or entering fee, I think. And it's going to be like vegetables or some fish, maybe. It can be anything. It can be anything, actually. It depends on the restaurant, and it shows how, you know, eating that, we know how good is the cook of this isaacaya. That's a good point. Like potato salad. I always found that the potato salad tells you a lot about the chef and how much attention he puts into what he serves you. Potato salad is one of the typical menu in izakaya. For me, as a French person, potato salad is really the cheapest dish you get on a restaurant on the side of the road as you travel through France.

34:46And it's usually not something that is highly rated by consumers. Well, in Japan as well. I live very close to a modern izakaya that does an absolutely amazing potato salad. They've gone out of their way to make their recipe unique and add ingredients that you wouldn't normally add to a potato salad. But yeah, in general, my image of a potato salad is just something very perfunctory, very, very simple, made with just a few ingredients. Yeah. Yeah. But these days, some chefs make very, very good ones. and they change the menu every week we sell. So every time you go there, they serve a different type of potato salad.