{"id":3305,"date":"2009-02-05T16:07:59","date_gmt":"2009-02-05T16:07:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/?p=3305"},"modified":"2009-02-05T16:13:10","modified_gmt":"2009-02-05T16:13:10","slug":"wit-life-26-yen-pinching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/2009\/02\/05\/wit-life-26-yen-pinching\/","title":{"rendered":"WIT Life #26: Yen-pinching"},"content":{"rendered":"

WITLife<\/strong><\/a> is a periodic series written by professional Interpreter\/Translator\/Writer Stacy Smith<\/strong><\/a> (Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03).\u00a0 Recently she\u2019s been watching Fujisankei\u2019s newscast in Japanese and sharing some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations. <\/em><\/p>\n

Stories regarding ways to save a few yen just keep on coming. <\/span>Today\u2019s news polled eating and drinking establishments in the Tokyo area to see what effect the recession is having on them, and 7 out of 12 said that there hadn\u2019t been much of an impact. <\/span>Whether being hit or not, these days they are forced to come up with a variety of ideas to stay in business and keep customers satisfied.<\/p>\n

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One spot featured was a tachinomi<\/em> (stand and drink) place that largely relies on self service. <\/span>Here you can buy beer and other drinks from vending machines for as low as 150 yen, and small dishes such as sausage can be purchased from a kiosk for 60 yen. <\/span>This one-man shop saw an 11.8% increase in business compared to last year at this time, and the owner cited reduction of labor costs as his reason for opening this kind of establishment.<\/p>\n

Customers, Japanese and foreigners alike, were unanimous in their praise for being able to relax outside and drink for such a cheap price. <\/span>One stated, \u201cAs opposed to sitting and drinking somewhere else for 3000 yen, I can enjoy myself here without worrying about the cost.\u201d <\/span>Indeed, the average bill at this tachinomi <\/em>comes to a whopping 417 yen, about $4.64 at today\u2019s 89.9 yen to dollar exchange rate. <\/span><\/p>\n

Foreign-style bars are also growing in popularity. <\/span>Some Japanese bars which had previously relied on a tab system have converted to cash on delivery, and one such location in Shinjuku has seen its sales increase 1.2% compared to last year. <\/span>As he handed over his money to the bartender, one customer explained, \u201cI like being able to see exactly how much I\u2019m spending. <\/span>Having to pay each time prevents me from going overboard.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an interesting twist, even Japan\u2019s famed cafes are now serving alcohol along with their coffee. <\/span>The one profiled, also in Shinjuku, showed several sets of female customers enjoying champagne and other kinds of alcohol. <\/span>\u201cBeing able to drink here gives us a quiet environment to talk, something you can\u2019t get at an izakaya<\/em>,\u201d explained one female patron. <\/span>Another customer chimed in by saying that cafes are good for groups that are comprised of drinkers and non-drinkers. <\/span>\u201cNow both sides can feel comfortable getting together and drinking what they want, whether it is tea or beer.\u201d By adding alcohol, cafes\u2019 profit margins have grown. <\/span>The average amount a customer who doesn\u2019t drink spends is 903 yen, compared to those who imbibe whose average bill reaches 1650 yen. <\/span><\/p>\n

Going forward it will be interesting to see what other types of innovations are incorporated in order for eating and drinking establishments to stay alive in this tough economic climate. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Interpreter\/Translator\/Writer Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03).\u00a0 Recently she\u2019s been watching Fujisankei\u2019s newscast in Japanese and sharing some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations. Stories regarding ways to save a few yen just keep on coming. Today\u2019s news polled eating and drinking establishments in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,30,18,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articlejournalism","category-japan-trends","category-translatinginterpreting","category-wit-life"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t