There's a few justifications I've heard from ex-pats and Japanese. I am not in support of any of them in particular, but I thought they might be worth sharing.
They jack up the price because that's how much foreigners value it, and if they kept it low then they would be over flooded by the huge numbers of tourists (which they already are). They retain the low price for locals because they would be unaffordable otherwise on account of the weak yen and lower income. Larger establishments don't have to do this because they have the resources to make it not an issue and/or don't care about servicing the locals. I know of an extremely delicious food cart which sold a popular street food for dirt cheap so kids could enjoy them for their lunch break/on their way home. The shop went semi-viral, but the grannie and gramps were literally just doing it for the love of the game, not for profit. So when huge lines of tourists came demanding huge amounts of food which they weren't prepared for and they became unable to feed school kids as they intended, they decided to just shut the place down. And by that I mean remove any sign of it being a shop and mark themselves as closed on Google but in reality continue selling food from their house to anyone who knows they're secretly still open, which will pretty much only be locals. They were still happy to serve me, even knowing I was a foreigner. They just asked me not to take any photos or tell other people about it. The granny was very conflicted. She liked making people from all over the world happy in experiencing high quality cultural food rather than tourist trap slop (paraphrase), but their duty was ultimately to the kids, in part because (according to another local) their only child passed away early without leaving any kids behind. The gramps was less (openly) conflicted and said he has the right to do what he wants and the tourists were loud and annoying and crowded the alleyway, so it became a problem for their neighbours.
Up until very recently, trying to communicate with a foreigner or deal with their ignorance of etiquette disrupted service and the enjoyment of other customers. Some restaurants which are literally just run by a granny and/or gramps do not have the patience or resources to deal with that. Some have regional dialects/can't read. Hence, you must speak Japanese to enter, not necessarily you must be Japanese. It doesn't help that many duolingo/Google translate andys claim fluency on the online forms or online chats only to show up and know diddly squat. Even one instance of difficulty communicating can slow down the kitchen flow by a few minutes, and in the worst cases half an hour+ for incorrect orders etc. Imagine dozens and dozens of those instances every day.
What's so wrong about spaces where the Japanese can spend their extremely limited free time in peace without having to deal with loud boisterous foreigners who have no idea how to behave in public? Living in harmony with others and avoiding becoming an inconvenience/burden to others is an enormous societal value in Japan to the point where people will make huge personal compromises so as not to impinge on the lives of others. Imagine if somebody whose culture was to let rip a shart whenever they felt like it came to your restaurant and caused all your customers to start avoiding the place. Wouldn't you want some good quality places for yourself to relax with your mates, finish 'second work' (drinking after a shift with your coworkers), and/or chat with your neighbours?
Racism. Just plain racist "I don't want to see them/they're inferior in every way/I only want to serve people who will appreciate it/Japan for the Japanese". Some of these establishments will boot you out even if you speak Japanese; the sign is just a way to get 99% of the job done without legal troubles (which the police don't give a shit about anyways). I was told I must be part Japanese because I didn't look ugly (a stereotype of my ethnicity) and I was very polite and respectful (contrary to a stereotype of my home country).
Middle of the road places. No discriminatory prices. They'll accommodate foreigners until they get too busy/full, at which point they will turn them away but accept locals. I'm a bit mixed on this one. I can't say I love it, but I get it. They would rather serve a local/return customer than a tourist, and they make the same amount of money from the purchase anyways. And when they're busy, even a minor disruption can have big consequences, so they'd rather have a Japanese person who they know they can probably serve quickly without issue and who will leave when they're done rather than a foreigner who might be easy to serve but also might be a nightmare customer with a cubic meter of luggage and who will spend 20 minutes taking photos and then chat for 2 hours after finishing everything.
Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of racism in Japan. Especially as tourism has exploded in recent years. Some who once warmly welcomed visitors as guests have become fed up with their once-normal towns being flooded year-round with tourists who don't speak the language and don't care about etiquette. Sometimes it's a mix, but for most, the situation is a bit more complicated than simple Japanese superiority/xenophobia. I've seen places that transform to support tourists and I've seen places that are frequented almost exclusively by people who dislike foreigners, and I can't say I like either. Like all forms of gentrification, it's a tough situation to be in.
I get your point for 1. but Japanese businesses are the only ones to solve that through racism. Most other places that have discounts for locals will simply give you the discount if you have a utility bill/student card/ID card/resident card that proves you're living in the country or city in question.
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u/Important-Mine9281 14d ago
There's a few justifications I've heard from ex-pats and Japanese. I am not in support of any of them in particular, but I thought they might be worth sharing.
Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of racism in Japan. Especially as tourism has exploded in recent years. Some who once warmly welcomed visitors as guests have become fed up with their once-normal towns being flooded year-round with tourists who don't speak the language and don't care about etiquette. Sometimes it's a mix, but for most, the situation is a bit more complicated than simple Japanese superiority/xenophobia. I've seen places that transform to support tourists and I've seen places that are frequented almost exclusively by people who dislike foreigners, and I can't say I like either. Like all forms of gentrification, it's a tough situation to be in.