Sitting in the diner where popularity is gradually rising, with the fragrant roasted birds and beer foam, the friends opposite him go from tired to smiling. The fatigue of the week seemed to be swept away. A small tavern is both a refuge for modern people and a confessional room.

"Go to have a drink together after get off work on weekends?" is a lifestyle that many people are familiar with. Sitting in the diner where popularity is gradually rising, with the fragrant roasted birds and beer foam, the friends opposite him go from tired to smiling. The fatigue of the week seemed to be swept away. A small tavern is both a refuge for modern people and a confessional room. It seems that life that escapes from the office is the real life. What is the struggle for performance, reports, promotion and personnel?

This kind of joy not only belongs to us, but the ancients a hundred years ago, in an era of scarcity of supplies, a glass of turbid wine and two plates of wine may be one of the few joys in life. Similarly, Izakaya , which is now a symbol of Japanese culture and public image, has also witnessed Japan's pace of exploration and leap forward towards modern civilization. From the distinction of hierarchical identities to the place where the whole nation is carnival today, tuna , roasted bird, soup tofu and boiled taro have also begun to fly into the homes of ordinary people. While we are drunk, from the izakaya, we can look back at the flowing Japanese culture, and we can also see the Japanese nationality as the "bottom" under the bright lights and wine of the metropolis.

Among the many news that happened during the epidemic in Japan, there is one that makes people laugh and cry. In April 2021—that is, when the third so-called "spread prevention period" came into effect—the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has designated some subordinate autonomous bodies based on population and other data to become the key implementation area. The catering industry in the area can only be open until 8 pm, while it can be extended outside the area. Against this background, Miehawk Station, located in the western suburbs of the city, belonging to the Jr East Japan Company's Chuo Line, suddenly became the focus of public opinion. The north exit of the station is located at Musashino City in the key area, while the south exit belongs to Mitsuki City in the non-key area. It is said that for a certain period of time, many customers who often go to Izakaya in Beikou immediately picked up their belongings and moved south as soon as they arrived. In fact, strictly speaking, the Nankou store can only be open until 9 o'clock and the supply of alcohol is also limited. But just this one hour of joy can influence people's movement patterns. From this news, we can also read the Japanese love for "outside food" represented by izakaya.

Izakaya in Ukiyoe, Japan

In fact, the discussion of Izakaya and related places in Japan has run through the entire epidemic period. From the beginning, these "night places" were regarded as floods that spread the virus to the later debates on how to distribute the compensation for the catering industry's retreat more equitably. The special situation of the epidemic is like putting an phenomenological bracket to Izakaya, allowing everyone to re-examine this presumptive existence that has long been integrated into daily life.

Japanese-style izakaya: The origin of common people

Like many places in the world, archaeological records prove that the Japanese's drinking of alcohol has started at least before the ages. In the 7th and 8th centuries, when writing and historical writing were more developed, records about drinking were seen everywhere. For example, in the 797 "The Continuing Japanese Ancestral" there is a chapter about the royal family being injured and punished after getting drunk. Equally important are the various regulations of administrative agencies on the collection of alcohol taxes. These words about drinking are obviously class-oriented. Because according to the 811 law, common people can only be allowed to consume alcohol at specific moments such as festivals. Therefore, the political and social implications behind drinking have been highlighted at this point in time.

The expansion of alcohol production and the final birth of izakaya will have to wait until Edo period . Because of the stable political environment, the ruling center of the Tokugawa shogunate Edo Castle population reached 1 million in the first half of the 18th century. Population and economic growth has directly encouraged the growth of the catering industry, especially the "outside food" outside the family scenario. There have always been many statements about the origin of izakaya, the most important one is that it is derived from wine merchants who specialize in selling wine. This theory is also quite reasonable from an etymological point of view: the shop ("wine house") that was originally intended for customers to drink wine and go home began to stay ("home"). The purpose of their stay was undoubtedly to take the lead in drinking Du Kang with the simple meal made by the store.Scholar Ryoichi Iino traces this history in his book "The Birth of Izakaya". He pointed out that the term izakaya officially appeared in the mid-18th century. Soon in a 1783 urban business survey, "Izakaya" was presented as a category (although it is still combined with the wine shop in the final statistics). In another survey in the early 19th century, the number of izakayas in Edo Castle rose to 1,808, accounting for 23.8% of all food and entertainment stores. Izakaya grew from birth to explosive growth in just half a century. One important reason behind this is the unnatural male-female ratio of Edo Castle. For military and construction purposes, the population of men in the city is much larger than that of women. A survey in 1721 even showed that the ratio of men and women was close to 2:1. In the feudal era when men enjoyed significantly more income and consumption freedom than women, it was they who injected a steady stream of momentum into the development of Izakaya in Edo Castle.

Izakaya in the Edo era

On the other hand, Iino's research mentioned that the development of Izakaya was actually subject to many restrictions. At that time, the same amount of grain was required to produce a liter of wine. As a result, the wine industry is strictly monitored by authorities trying to ensure food supply. From the complete ban on alcohol , policies such as allowing only specific merchants to sell are introduced from time to time. Since the 19th century, restaurants including izakayas in Edo Castle have been limited to no more than 6,000. But Iino also pointed out that the power of the "public" in Edo, where the common people's culture is very developed, cannot completely control and squeeze the "private". The people's exploitation, rent-seeking, or the authorities' turn a blind eye, have kept the development momentum of Izakaya (from this point of view, the "guerrilla warfare" of the Mitsuhawk Station gourmets is not new in the sun). During this period, we can also discover many commercial techniques that still exist today. For example, in Edo, there were izakayas where drinks and food were all at the same price (Today, Japan's largest average price "319 yen" izakaya chain "Bird Nobles" was born in 1985). Market segmentation such as station bars dedicated to low-income groups ("Ritania" in Japanese) and private rooms dedicated to upper-income upper-income groups were matured in the Edo period.

Modernization of Izakaya: Equality and difference

Accompanied by Meiji Restoration , Japanese izakaya also ushered in modernization and Westernization. Under the banner of "civilization and civilization", foreign wines, including beer, began to enter Japanese cities. In 1899, the "Ebisu Beer Auditorium" started business in Ginza . The word "beer auditorium" (Japanese: 㓢ホール) is a typical "Hijing English" that is composed of the words Beer and Hall. The customers not only enjoy Western catering, but more importantly, their clothes and conversations also need to abide by a different symbolic system than Edo Izakaya. But one of the characteristics of Japan's modernization is its coexistence with the foreign countries. Western bars have never completely replaced the local drinking tradition. In the back streets and alleys of Ginza, filled with modern restaurants, Edo-era izakayas and food stalls are still full of vitality. Many customers visit both at the same time, and they are not favored by one or the other. In contrast, it is undoubtedly the war launched by Japan that has caused a greater impact on the wine industry. In 1939, Japan's domestic beer production reached a peak. But soon, the relevant policies of the "great battle" forced many izakayas and beer auditoriums to close their doors. Instead, some "national barbecues" uniformly rationed by the authorities. Kenji Hashimoto, a scholar who focuses on the modern history of izakaya, believes that public izakaya and other policies objectively promote the "equality" of drinking. The wine rations carried out at the same time also allowed these consumer goods that still had foreign colors to enter the lives of ordinary Japanese on a larger scale. But Hashimoto naturally did not deny the great damage this special environment brought to traditional izakaya and the common people's culture related to it. In fact, it was the civil forces that had been difficult to preserve from the war that supported the first step in the post-war revival of Izakaya.

"The Birth of Izakaya" Author: (Sunday) Ryoichi Iino Translator: Wang Xiaoting Version: Shanghai People's Publishing House January 2022

Izakaya after 1945 can be said to have emerged from the "ruins" in terms of form and content.On the one hand, most of these shops are built on open spaces in front of the main stations. These spaces were originally air defense areas that were forcibly set up by the state during the war, which did not allow any buildings, but the black market after the war quickly occupied these abandoned places. Izakaya is naturally one of its many illegal stalls. On the other hand, after the war with extremely shortage of supplies, most of the catering provided by Izakaya were "limited". Extracting alcohol from remaining fuel from weapons was a popular method at the time. However, due to immature technology, alcohol poisoning has been frequently reported for a period of time, including the occupying forces. Like Japan's overall economy, the izakaya industry began to "take off" again in the 1950s. In the year when the war just ended, the production of sake and beer was one-seventh and one-third of the pre-war peak, respectively. By 1953, the total production of Japanese alcohol reached 1.23 million liters, surpassing the pre-war period. At the same time, more diverse alcohol and drinking methods including whiskey , Japanese distilled liquor (Japanese: 风) have also begun in the post-war society.

Japanese drama "Izakaya Ashin"

For izakaya after the war, a very important development was the birth of chain stores. Unlike privately operated small shops that began in the Edo period, these shops supported by large capital have undoubtedly created a new model of external food. In his book "The Post-War History of Izakaya", Professor Hashimoto regards the chain "Tengou" founded by Iida in 1969 as a starting point. He pointed out that although a large-scale izakaya was born before Tengu, Iida was the first person to promote the " central kitchen " model to all the stores under the group. This ensures the quality of food and the speed of service to the greatest extent. Since then, the group's store started in 1972 has integrated Japanese Chinese cuisine and "foreign food" (referring to "Japanese Western cuisine" such as fried pork chops and Naples pasta) into the menu and became very popular. This also laid the real foundation for Izakaya to not only provide Japanese side dishes with sake but also become a comprehensive restaurant.

As a sociologist, Professor Hashimoto is also paying attention to the changes in Japanese society itself while paying attention to the post-war history of Izakaya. In particular, he quoted various data in his book to explain how Japan has changed from a middle-class drinking country to a class-differentiated drinking country. Taking beer as an example, if all Japanese population are divided into five combinations according to annual income, the population group with the highest income in 1969 consumed 1.68 times the amount of beer that was the lowest. As the economy "pie" becomes bigger, the consumption gap also becomes smaller. In 1974, this value became 1.25, and in 1979, it further dropped to 1.24. However, after the bursting of Japan's economic bubble and the continuous introduction of neoliberal policies, this number soared to 1.72 in 2009, even surpassing the early stages of economic revival. Compared with the direct data on consumption, another more secret injustice is reflected in the alcohol tax. According to the data at the time of writing, the tax on a liter of beer in Japan is 123.25 yen, while the tax on a liter of red wine is 80 yen. But in comparison, red wine is more popular among higher income classes. In other words, in addition to being very high compared with other developed countries, Japan's alcohol tax is in a state of "reverse progress" to some extent. Hashimoto criticized this undoubtedly deepened the people's poor alcohol consumption. "Grade Difference", a Japanese character that describes the inequality of socioeconomic status, won the buzzword award in 2005. It was also at the turn of the century that with the dissolution of Japan's economic bubble, the "bubble" of alcohol gradually subsided from the daily dining tables of low-income groups.

Under the epidemic: The diversified izakaya

As mentioned at the beginning, the epidemic has brought various impacts to izakaya and the entire out-of-food industry. While making people unable to enjoy themselves and businesses suffer losses, it directly or indirectly changed the various cultures that have been formed over the long period of time. A survey launched by Japanese Life Insurance Company at the end of last year showed that 61.9% of respondents said that drinking parties with colleagues after get off work were "unnecessary".Not only does this number exceed the "necessary" group that is considered to be twice as fast as the result, the first time the survey has seen negative answers exceeding positive responses. These drinks are called "nommunication" in Japanese, and are composed of the verb "drink" (nomi) and the English (communication) of "communication". This activity has long been stereotyped by to be considered an indispensable part of the Japanese workplace. But even so, it seems that it cannot escape the impact of the epidemic. But looking back, as some Japanese critics pointed out, we are actually unable to determine whether it is because of the number of people opposing the cocktail party in the epidemic or whether the people who already oppose it finally have a legitimate reason to refuse. After all, when you get off work, you have to compliment your boss and coping with your colleagues. In the eyes of many people, you undoubtedly have to work overtime without subsidies.

Izakaya on the kirika of Kasugawa, Kyoto, resumed outdoor business after the epidemic

The same logic can also be extended to the place where the "receipt party" occurs, izakaya itself. Izakaya, which was hit by the epidemic, had already undergone structural changes long before 's new crown . Professor Hashimoto mentioned in his book that in 2000, the number of people who consumed alcohol regularly in Japan accounted for about 27% of the total population, but ten years later this number dropped to 20.2%. The number of izakayas nationwide also dropped from more than 150,000 in 2004 to more than 120,000 in 2014. Another interesting figure is that about 38.3% of service industry operators, including izakaya store owners, are over 60 years old, and 27.3% are even over 70 years old. As a result, Japan's aging is also happening in the izakaya industry.

But in this context, we can also find many new elements that may bring hope to the industry. First, with the overall decline in the number of drinking people, there is a group of populations that have seen a counter-growth trend in many related statistics: young women under the age of 30. When analyzing the Meiji Izakaya, Hashimoto once mentioned that a basic principle of the modern government is to prohibit private brewing. This kind of production in the private sector was once a rare opportunity for women who were excluded from restaurants in the public sector to enjoy alcohol. In other words, like many other modernization projects, the development of alcohol production and consumption also takes the exclusion of women as an indirect premise. Since more women entered the workplace after the war, especially in the 1970s, their consumption of alcohol has become a more serious and recognized topic. Before the epidemic, basically all izakaya chains had promotional activities targeting this group. For example, many businesses have special "women's club" packages. It allows women to enjoy dining in a more free and safe environment. It can be imagined that after the epidemic, more female consumers will still actively integrate into this industry that was once dominated by men.

comic " Lonely Foodie "

Another thing worth observing is the portrayal of Izakaya by the mass media. For a long time in the past, almost everyone will think of sushi when it comes to representative Japanese cuisine. However, in recent years, the more "Shiliba people" food culture, which is typical of Izakaya, has gradually become a new symbol in Japan. For example, the comic/TV series "The Lonely Foodie". Although the protagonist is set to not drink alcohol, many of the restaurants he goes to are traditional izakayas. Not to mention that the original author will appear and drink every time at the end of the TV series. For example, " Late Night Canteen ", which is popular in Asia. The shabby shop in Shinjuku Alley can become the home of all customers. What we can discover from this is a shaping of the "nostalgia" atmosphere. Going further, this nostalgia has a very special point of view on the past. The protagonists of "Late Night Cafeteria" are mostly homecoming people working hard in Tokyo, but what they miss is no longer the countryside that their parents have lost, but the old city they once grew up in. This nostalgia for the city that happens in the city is one of the reasons why the series is refreshing. Only under this premise can Izakaya replace the big family and become the "hometown" that frustrated people who have experienced the baptism of individualism are willing to go back.For other Asian audiences who have almost started a similar process, this feeling is naturally very easy to understand.

The time-honored izakaya Takemoto store located near Shibuya Station in Tokyo

It is worth mentioning that although most of the TV series "Late Night Canteen" are shot in indoor studios, similar locations can be found in cities such as Tokyo. For example, the "Memories of Yokoto" in Shinjuku West Exit and the "Golden Street" near Kabukicho . Among them, the rows of izakaya (even doubtful in firefighting) also developed from the post-war black market mentioned above. But with the support of the post-war laws that protect private ownership , they have become "nail households" while becoming new representatives of Japanese culture.

Many Japanese media reported that compared to the pre-epidemic preference for modern chain stores in the city center, Japanese consumers now seem to prefer simpler izakayas near their homes. In these usually small "husband and wife stores", there is a trace of familiarity and warmth that goes beyond transactions between operators and customers. This may be a new development trend of Japanese-style izakaya in the current "pre-COVID" life has also begun to become nostalgic.

Author/Huang Qiuyuan

Editing/Yuan Chunxi

Proofreading/Yang Xuli