Say goodbye to you on the last bus
When will you say goodbye to you?
That's like a revolving lantern. The words that are turning around
lit a fire in my heart
rushing on the tram without thinking about it
towards you. The Huadu of You live in Tokyo... ...
When Shibata Jun's "Tokyo" was very popular in the streets and alleys of Tokyo, I first came to Tokyo to go to university.
From a popular mass restaurant (the first imagination of " Izakaya "), a girl bar with a wine-accompaniment nature, and even a high-end material pavilion that provides wine, the "Izakaya" with its own unique "Izakaya" embellishes the nights in Tokyo. Young people who are new to Tokyo are often attracted by these "night flowers" to come and spend, or knock on the door to apply for jobs in order to make a living.
Tokyo Volkswagen Restaurant
Working in the catering industry, usually there is no heavy physical labor, nor does it require a youthful and beautiful appearance. More and more international students are active in izakaya nights in order to experience the deeper aspects of Japanese society. different choices often open completely different stories .
I was ignorant of the world and interviewed three time-honored high-end material booths in a row and were eliminated. Finally, I accidentally ran into a small bar that was not a time-honored brand, but also had a good reputation. I thought working was as simple as a self-proclaimed interview, and with my mysterious confidence, I started a "nightlife" with bright lights and wine in the most central area of Tokyo, oh no, "night work".
( Stills from "We Can't Become a Beast")
Izakaya vs Sake Bar: Find different
S Sake Bar I worked in before is a "Western style Izakaya" that has both the characteristics of a French restaurant and is in line with Japanese domestic culinary booths.
First, let’s talk about the characteristics of S Sake Bar compared to the pure Japanese izakaya commonly reported by Chinese media:
1. Basically Western cuisine. Because the French are the first to drink with cheese, I am working in S Sake Bar and I am forced to remember how to match different flavors of cheese with sake to help customers who do not understand the name of the dish to make the right choice. Well, what if the waiter can't understand what is written on the menu, how can such a thing be allowed to happen in the Japanese service industry! ?
So during my work, my biggest language difficulty was the French that I couldn't get around when memorizing the menu and wine list, Italian dishes, and various strange ways to pronounce Chinese characters.
For example, the following dish platter is enough to write three lines of Katakana. In addition to English, it also involves Italian, Spanish , French... Finally, please read it in a Japanese accent and describe its flavor in fifty words...
2. The store is small like sparrow , can entertain up to twenty guests, and except for the chef manager, only one or two helpers are hired. In addition, it is a small shop with a hidden location, and most of the people who come here are regular customers. Even if you are a regular customer, if you don’t call in advance to make an appointment, you may be persuaded to leave by the store manager because of the full customer.
guest floor is mainly young and middle-aged white-collar workers working nearby. During the interview with the work, the store manager boasted: "Many of the guests who come to our house are respected as gentlemen (doctors, lawyers, and university teachers). The quality of the guests is very good." ...
Of course, as we all know, after the Japanese drink, even white-collar workers in suits and ties often expose their strange side.
3. The store manager who claimed to be "hate Japan" and was born and raised in Los Angeles, USA is also a big view in the store. When asked what delicious food and drinks were in the store, the store manager said without any modesty: "Our stores are the best!"
Every night, the store manager is like an uncle next door, listening to the work troubles of young white-collar workers with caring eyes, and occasionally making wonderful speeches such as "Don't worry about the opinions of old and immortal superiors, and work hard with confidence" and "Japan needs a real revolution".
(stills of "We Can't Become a Beast")
I was wiping my wine glass at the bar. I was scolded several times because I was too focused on listening to the conversation between the store manager and the customer, "It's not enough to move faster, the cup is not enough!" However, except for me, I think not many people should take his words seriously.
Working, forming a link of social education
Every time you come to the store to work, everyone should wear a clean white shirt and a black apron. Put on your work clothes and seamlessly incorporate the scene of the hero working in a French restaurant in the center of Tokyo.
cuffs are spotless and some perfume will be sprayed with the season. Because I am a Chinese student, the store manager bought more orchid-flavored perfumes in the store. Although it is a cheap perfume that can be bought in a supermarket, after spraying it with perfume, the humble working dog seems to be working in the "Tokyo Hotel", full of ritual!
(Story of "Tokyo Hotel")
The fragrance in the toilet should also be changed according to the season. The toilet hygiene needs to be checked every two hours on average. After cleaning the toilet, you must fold the toilet paper into a triangle. On the one hand, I remind my friends who are working together that "I have cleaned it here." On the other hand, I hope that the next customer will feel good when using a brand new toilet.
Once you face a guest, your smile must be kept unstoppable until the end of the work. Although it is a bit artificial after laughing for a long time, it is indeed one of the symbols of Japan's service industry. The action of raising your head and drinking water that makes the guests feel rude cannot be seen. I could only squat in an invisible corner and drink water and kick my breath. Once called by the customer, he would immediately lean out from the bar and smile and respond: "Yes, please wait."
(stills of "We Can't Become a Beast")
When faced with customers with too detailed questions such as "Where is the origin of cheese?" "I want to drink local wine from Tokyo", you cannot simply say " doesn't know ". If you don't understand something, you must ask the store manager and then turn back to the customer to answer questions and solve problems.
honorific words are also thresholds that the service industry cannot avoid. At first I thought that ordinary respect was enough, but after observing the more experienced clerk, I suddenly realized: what is more important is the use of "respecting other words" and adding "王" before the noun. Sometimes I forgot to use more advanced honorifics, and older guests look a little bad. The store manager was about to come out of the bar and bowed to apologize on behalf of me: "This child is a foreigner. He learns respectful words slowly, please be more grateful." When chatting with the customer, the store manager mentioned: "There were students from medical universities in the store who came to apply for a job. He was very enthusiastic and did not feel that it was necessary to say respectful words to customers. Even if such a person graduated and became a social elite like a doctor, he would not truly be considerate and respectful to others." In this sense, learning respectful words is not to lower one's personality, but to face others who live together in society and form a respectful mood.
Some uncommon guests
In the heart of Tokyo, both day and night, it reveals a little loneliness in the prosperity. The tired Tokyoites find izakayas or bars after another, temporarily abandoning the troubles of the world while drinking, as if they find a small island where they can place themselves.
geisha with heavy makeup sometimes comes to the store to drink alone. I don’t know when she will come and when she won’t come, and even her name is kept confidential. The store regularly poured her a glass of sake "Four Seasons Beauty".No matter what others talked to her, she just smiled without saying a word.
After watching the NHK documentary, you will know that there are not many geishas in Tokyo, but the competition is extremely fierce. If you are not careful, you will lose the favor of your guests and have to pack up and go back to your hometown in the countryside. The geisha looked blankly at the window made of sake bottles in a corner of the bar, as beautiful as a classical painting. The cold and deserted lips, without a smile, were like a paper lantern, stopped lonely on the water with wine.
When you are not in a hurry, as a clerk, you need to send the customer out and bow and salute until the customer leaves. When I sent the geisha lady out, I had several times when I was hiding the crescent moon . The vines and bamboo on the inner side of the bar street cast shadows of different shades. The geisha's gorgeous belt flashed through her vision sharply and shimmeringly.
Although we had only silent communication with the geisha lady, she seemed to like this store very much. The manager got permission and took a photo of her sitting at the bar tasting and hung it in the store as a souvenir. When she becomes famous one day, she may come to the shop to sit and have another drink.
also met Uncle Cowherd in his thirties who came with "Dad Sang". It looks like the young version of Mr. Xiaoshoushou in " Late Night Canteen ". " Daddy Sang " came with
is a regular customer in the store, so the store manager is also very caring. I didn't notice that the customer used his left hand and used to put the tableware on his right hand, and was criticized by the store manager again. Uncle Cowherd gently helped me straighten the tableware, "It doesn't matter, take it slowly. Girls are very careful."
(stills from "Late Night Cafeteria")
" I've been waiting for a long time, special dish: sake gelato (a type of ice cream). "For most customers who come here for the first time, the store manager will personally introduce it. A circle of golden shredded paper is sprinkled next to the glass boat basin that specializes in ice cream, which is convenient for female customers to pose for photos.
At night, it was drizzling outside the store. On rainy days, clerks usually take out a spare transparent umbrella to avoid getting wet when they go out. I was about to take an umbrella to take the passengers out, Uncle Cowherd waved goodbye to the people in the store at the door: "Thank you, let's take a taxi now. Don't come out and catch a cold when you catch a cold in the rain."
rarely cares about the guests so much. I couldn't help but come back and say to the store manager, "The customer just now is such a gentle and good person." The store manager stared at the turnover tonight and smiled like a big Orange Cat : "Well, what a great person."
Contact the world's sake bar
Tokyo is the Tokyo in the world. Because everyone flocks to Tokyo, the noisy, restless and dusty city like Tokyo sometimes makes people who love freedom feel bored from the heart. The manager who runs a small shop sometimes talks with regular customers who return from overseas travel about the verdant mountains of the West Coast of the United States. The enthusiastic local residents, in comparison, are too cold and nervous all day long and have many rules.
"Busan, do you think Japan is too annoying? The Japanese uncle who was nitpicking all day said that this place was not done well and that there was not done well." I was so scared that I almost knocked over the vegetable box that was being counted, "No, no, I received a lot of care from the store manager and learned a lot of things!"
"You have to work harder in life in Japan." The store manager gave himself a glass of draft beer and toasted to regular customers who had just returned from a business trip from Shanghai. " has been to Beijing and Shanghai, and I feel that China's future is really immeasurable. " "Yes, Japan has no future. Cheers~".
The cheerful store manager has also been interviewed by Hong Kong Food Magazine, so Hong Kong customers visit our store from time to time. However, the overseas customers and store managers who visited all spoke very good English, which led to my never having the opportunity to show my Chinese proficiency in the store.On the contrary, many of the Tokyo guests who came to learn Chinese because of their work relationship. I heard that there were Chinese people here, and Tokyo white-collar workers often volunteered to count Chinese, which won applause from the audience.
Once some men are too enthusiastic, the store manager will come forward to remind: "Please don't add unnecessary trouble to women." When they meet some customers who seem to be a little confused and complain that the surge in foreigners in Japan has destroyed the beautiful Japan in their minds, the store manager must say seriously: "Although foreign students who have worked here are clumsy, they are all honest and reliable children."
Although such an unbiased store manager has been learning with me with clumsy, because I have to look for an internship after the summer vacation, I had to submit my resignation to the store manager. While reminding me, "You should work hard for other tasks," the manager thoughtfully put a whole box of my favorite homemade curry as a farewell gift. On the last late night of the work, I bowed to the customers and the store manager who came back one by one, and rode a shabby bicycle to trek home. The guest who first went out to take the tram from the store and waved to me when he saw me in front of the station: "Bosang, goodbye~" I was about to turn back and say hello, but the Tokyo tram closed quickly like the gate of time and was gone forever.
Occasionally, you can see the latest situation in the store through the store manager's Twitter. No matter what year or month, the store manager has always been curious about things overseas and has developed new dishes from conversations with customers. He once came up with a plan to pair Sichuan dumplings with sake, but for some reason, Sichuan dumplings ended up missing the official menu. As for me, in a corner of the world that the manager cannot see, I quietly prayed for the day when the Kawaki dumplings were successful in the Japanese sake bar.
(stills of "We Can't Become a Beast")
This article comes from the WeChat public account: Japantong, author: Totoro
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