Food and Drink

The fella in the photographs was a barber until he was 50, but he didn’t like it, so he became a bar owner instead. A job he has done ever since. For the last 24 years to be exact. Cooking and serving behind the little counter below.

Those are the simple facts, but how long he will continue to be open for business is far less certain. His age of course is a factor, but with Tokyo residents now being asked to refrain from socialising in the evening, and a lockdown surely inevitable, it’s not hard to imagine that once the pandemic is over, lots of little places like this will sadly never open again.

Now and again it’s still possible to see a slice of Tokyo life that allows the past and the present to fit comfortably in one frame.

Some standing bars are horse-shoe shaped. Others are packed beyond belief. Plus the odd one or two are simply very small indeed.

In a world of delivery motorbikes and Uber Eats bags, the sight of food being transported the traditional way is an increasingly rare sight. One only really seen in certain parts of the city. But just like the old adage about buses, after waiting ages to see one, two sometimes come along at once.

Recently, the owner of the Tokyo restaurant below opted for a ‘Japanese only’ policy due to the coronavirus outbreak. In his tweet announcing the decision, he was at pains to stress that it wasn’t in any way discriminatory. Instead, it was simply a way to try and protect his family, staff and the eatery’s customers.

A controversial move it has to be said, but one that doesn’t seem to have affected business, as on Monday (a national holiday), there was a long line of people waiting to get in. All of them Japanese of course.