Quote:
Originally Posted by Brass
Yes and no. I don't completely buy it's just a "safety" precaution, otherwise they'd at least ask to see your passport so they can see your nationality. If STDs didn't exist they'd find some other "praticle" reason to exclude foreigners. From what I hear there are still a lot of bars/clubs/restaurants that don't take gaijin. What are they afraid of?
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I don't think that would work though. Australia, the Uk, America and Canada also have higher STD rates than Japan. And can you imagine the hoo-hah that would be thrown up if Japan was seen to be openly discriminating against ~specific~ nationalities? It causes less hassle for the proprietors to simply say 'no foreigners' rather than get into such quandaries when they're on already the grey side of legality. That's not the kind of public attention they're after. It could cause fights on ground level as well, if say, a Nigerian is refused entrance at the same time as a bunch of Germans are waved merrily on in, and I imagine these kinds of places get by on remaining, if not discrete, then at least civil on the face of things.
To be honest, I'm puzzled by the 'no gaijin' in bars things. I'm sure it exists and I don't condone it, but I lived in an area where there were many foreigners, some of whom did cause trouble in the locality, and yet I never found a single place that refused entrance, and I went out in a great deal of places and never saw it first hand. In my experience, it's nowhere near as prolific as people think. Conversely, I have seen how some foreigners act in bars, and frankly some of the behavior is disgusting so I can't say i'm shocked if it exists. In connection, I kinda suspect it's a reputation thing; you see places like Pure in Osaka, which actively gear themselves towards attracting foreigners and they're the most awful trashy dives you can imagine. 'That' kind of guy goes there, as does 'that' kind of japanese girl and 'that' kind of drunk. The only place I heard of people getting hold of drugs too. Saying 'no gaijin' maybe sets a tone for bars in iffy areas?
Or maybe they don't want the language barrier hassle. Lets face it, a table of 8 people trying to 'betsu betsu' the bill and speaking only halting japanese/english can effectively stall service in a small establishment. Or they've have trouble with foreigners in the past and the resulting embarrassment has lead to a general ban. I've heard a couple of military guys whining about it, so maybe it's more common near the bases? The only other reason I could think of was that a lot of the more traditional bars are run by older men, so perhaps there's some war stigma knocking around?
I don't know. I have a knack for polite japanese and making friends with bar staff; it's never been a problem for me.