“Japanese Only” bar in Kobe, “Soul Bar”, Nishinomiya Yamanote Doori. Advertises the music of people they would no doubt exclude.
Posted by debito on May 10th, 2011
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Hi Blog. Here’s a submission from Sean Maki of yet another place that excludes NJ customers, this time in the international city of Kobe. Archive of the Rogues’ Gallery of Exclusionary Establishments here, so you can see how the issue is nationwide. I will add this case to the Rogues’ Gallery presently. Thanks Sean. Arudou Debito
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May 4-6, 2011
Hi Debito. On a visit to Kobe for Golden Week, I came across a bar worthy of your Rogues’ Gallery of exclusionary establisments. Ironically, it was a soul music bar called Soul Love, with a sign featuring album covers of soul artists, including prominent Motown acts, who presumably would not be welcome inside the bar.
〒650-0011 兵庫県神戸市中央区下山手通１丁目３－１０ TEL 078-321-6460
The bar was located on Higashimon Dori, a prominent thoroughfare in Sannomiya, one of Kobe’s major entertainment districts.
Following are links to photos I took of their sign reading ‘Excuse me Japanese people only,’ as well as the main sign for the business, which includes a phone number.
http://twitpic.com/4tw6s3
http://twitpic.com/4tw9nt
http://twitpic.com/4twdla
All of these photos were taken with my cellphone, however, I have better quality images taken with another camera:
They were taken around 10 P.M. on Tuesday, May 3, 2011. Please feel free to name me as the source of the photos, and to use my write-up for the submitter’s comment.
You might notice the ‘Japanese only’ sign also carries a sticker advertising AU phone service. I don’t know whether this the kind of corporate branding AU would be looking for.
Regards, Sean Maki
ENDS
May 10th, 2011 at 9:56 am
I have seen and passed by that Bar several times. I live near by.
There are many that refuse NJs entrance. I’ve been on the recieving end a few times. My J mate felt somewhat embaressed by the clubs doorman (or other) refusing me entry upon seeing me enter the club with him.
May 10th, 2011 at 10:09 am
Hi, I live and work in Kobe. That place is just another shitty dive in a bad neighborhood (although I’ll grant that it’s off of a prominent thoroughfare). There are probably a hundred similar bars in the neighborhood, most of which are not remarkable, several of which advertise that English is spoke. I want to say that this injustice is really not worth the effort. The area has flavor which attracts visitors but no local NJ would try to walk through the door and see if it caused a fuss. So it’s not nice but I don’t think it’s worth the effort to try and change the policy of this one joint.
– People said that about one onsen in Otaru way back when too. Then it spread nationwide. Study your history, start here. Left-alone signs encourage copycatting. You think it will stop at this bar, or in this neighborhood, or in this industry? It hasn’t yet.
May 10th, 2011 at 11:31 am
People just don’t get it, do they. I am sure most people, and certainly most NJ tourists, would have no interest in going into such crummy bars. That doesn’t make it alright, and it doesn’t excuse a “leave it to them,” attitude. Discrimination is discrimination is discrimination. Or am I missing something?
May 10th, 2011 at 1:33 pm
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
以上です
May 10th, 2011 at 2:05 pm
I sent a mail to AU KDDI asking them why there was a racist sign with their corporate branding on it. I advised them that they might want to check it out because such associations might damage their reputation.
I know it’s a long shot but may as well try.
Jim
May 10th, 2011 at 3:21 pm
Are you sure that doesn`t read “Excuse me Japanese, people only?”
May 10th, 2011 at 7:06 pm
Thanks to the activism efforts of Sora, this sign has now been taken down by the owner. It took a total of one pleasant phone call in Japanese and was done in under 5 minutes. The owner put up the sign not due to race or ethnicity fears, but rather due to language/culture misunderstanding fears and prior bad customer interaction experiences.
It’s fairly common for Japanese “snack” type bars to have non-nominal (I’ve seen charges as high as ¥3000) “cover charge” that you do not pay at the door or up-front — a tradition that is not a custom in many foreign countries. Thus, after the patrons have have a few drinks and their judgement is impaired, they sometimes see the bill at the end of the night, are surprised by the steep cover charge, and accuse, in a foreign language, the proprietor of fraud. At my favorite watering hole live bar in Ōsaka, “All Is Vanity,” (free plug: located in Taishō-ku), I myself witnessed a pair of Japanese-language-challenged blokes verbally assault the owner over a relatively measly ¥500 cover charge. And the menu (which I added English translations to back in my early days in Japan in order to secure an occasional complimentary beer) even mentioned the cover charge at the bottom!
* You can thank Sora et al for solving the QB House exclusionary sign problem too. That too simply took a couple of friendly phone calls in Japanese.
– And you can thank other people (including people like me) for getting other Japanese Only signs down in the past. Thank you. And thank us. We’re all in this together to resolve this issue. So what’s your point? That we’ve somehow done it more wrongly than thoust?
Anyway, having potential misunderstandings with the cover charge is no justification for putting up signs of this sort. It wouldn’t be justifiable in societies with actual laws against racial discrimination, so stop trying to justify it here too.
May 10th, 2011 at 8:05 pm
Update:
Received a quick reply from AU, about 30 minutes after sending it. It was not an automated reply. A real person told me their name in the email they sent me. Here is the gist of what they sent:
Thank you for your information for our logo used by third party’s sign.
We will report it to section in charge for verifying this matter.
Your comments and opinions are important to us.
We will be more than happy to answer your inquiry, please feel free to inquire us anytime.
Best regards
It may not be the best or most efficient way to go about it, but maybe it’s a start.
– It is. Thanks for doing it.
May 10th, 2011 at 11:09 pm
Called. Asked (in Japanese) if he meant Japanese PEOPLE only. He answered (in Japanese) that he meant Japanese LANGUAGE Only. “Anyone who speaks Japanese and can pay the cover charge is welcome” and he sounded totally sincere. So, I told him that’s great, and that to avoid complaints in the future he should simply add the word LANGUAGE.
If he had sounded like he was simply lying to avoid the embarrassing truth (like the Azabu ballet school did), or if he had said “Yeah, regardless of Japanese language skills, regardless of Japanese nationalization, we simply don’t want non-Japanese-DNA folks in our establishment” (like the Otaru Onsen did) then I would have pressed further, but the fact is, in this particular case, the guy sounded like he HONESTLY meant Japanese LANGUAGE Only.
May 10th, 2011 at 11:14 pm
I am surprised! I have been into that bar (maybe 4 years ago), with a Japanese friend. I don’t remember a sign, but there was no problem. I wasn’t asked to leave, and got served. Maybe something happened?
May 10th, 2011 at 11:34 pm
Oops, when I called, I was foolishly thinking that his sign had said “Japanese Only.”
Now, I went back and looked at the photos of the sign again, and I belatedly realized that his sign had specifically stated “Japanese PEOPLE Only.”
Wow, his voice sure sounded honest, but he straight-out lied to me. If he wrote PEOPLE he meant PEOPLE.
Ponta=Sora, I wonder, are you going to remember this is a simple “misunderstanding” (like EVERY other case you have “solved”, or are you going to remember it as it TRULY is: a person excluding people of the wrong race (“to avoid trouble”), yet when asked about it, the person simply LIED and DENIED his policy is racially discriminatory.
No misunderstanding here: the guy wrote “Japanese PEOPLE Only”, he meant “Japanese PEOPLE Only”.
May 11th, 2011 at 12:13 am
And come to think of it, the sign in Tsukiji (which Ponta=Sora is so proud about having “solved”) ALSO specifically said “Japanese PEOPLE Only”.
I can’t figure out if Ponta=Sora is in denial about the fact that some humans DO practice racial discrimination, or if he is simply very, very, naive.
Probably the typical conversation between Ponta=Sora and a racist goes like this:
Ponta=Sora: “Excuse me, some non-Japanese have noticed your sign, but this must be a simple misunderstanding, because you’re not racist, right?”
Racist: “Nope, I’m not racist at all. No-one in Japan practices racial discrimination. No way! It’s just another misunderstanding.”
Ponta=Sora: “Yeah, I know. Well, the sign has been noticed, and some complaints are going to come your way soon, so you should consider taking it down.”
Racist: “OK, I’ll take it down to avoid the complaints. (I’m still going to continue doing what I’ve always done, which is to try serve Japanese PEOPLE Only, because their patronage is safer and more profitable, but at least from now on I’ll be more sly about about how I discriminate, for example I’ll just claim, ‘Sorry, all full, maximum occupancy and all that, cheers!’) Thanks for the heads up!”
Ponta=Sora: “My pleasure.”
*Ponta=Sora puts down the phone and pats himself on the back, then proudly posts something like, “No racism here folks, it was just another simple misunderstanding, I’m sure of it, the owner told me so! He wouldn’t lie, ware-ware Nippon-jin don’t lie, especially to each other. Case closed. The country I happen to have been born in has absolutely ZERO aspects in which it should practice Kaizen. There is absolutely NOTHING I would like to change about any actions committed by my people. I’ve got a blog in which I’ve CLEARLY proven to my readers that I am totally sure that there is NO problem with Japan’s current way of doing things. To put it simply, my country is PERFECT!”*