Tourists get taste of old Japan at hidden 'snack bars'

these places are great!

We'll look out for them when we visit again for a month in April next year.

A positive tourist story for a change !

To me "snakku" means "gaijin not welcome, but this will be very expensive either way."

In the past I've been to a few but I find these places mostly depressing and reeking of loneliness. Unless, of course, you're with all your friends at the time.

Some small towns in the US still have those cozy old bars from back in the Prohibition era and just after. I went to one a little while ago and the atmosphere was inviting and nostalgic. My money is on these being very much the same. I'd love to go to as many as I possibly can. It's like learning history without the book.

lordoflysToday 08:41 am JST

In the past I've been to a few but I find these places mostly depressing and reeking of loneliness. Unless, of course, you're with all your friends at the time

I went to some of these in the late '90s and early 2000s and I have to echo your sentiments. They were quite depressing and boring. Lots of bad karaoke and average food and alcohol.

Some boring, old salaryman pointing at you and asking, "You, America?"

Been to a million of these. This to me feels like Japan. Not USJ nor those newly built retro Showa restaurant rows.

This might be a good time to use a guide, since they can take you to a better one with a better mama san, warn you if people smoke inside, how much the table charge is, order what may be the only palatable food on the menu, and tell you a bit about what this style of drinking is about.

If you just walk into a random one and get stiffed for a big charge of one bottle of beer half an hour later, I'd imagine it would be a very negative experience for many tourists from other drinking cultures.

I love a good snack run by someone my age or younger. Generational differences definitely play into the experience and crowd you can meet. Some snack run since the 60s is fun for a minute until the obachan and ossans are demanding everyone sing “we are the world” or some other song they was popular when they were our age lol.

most are pretty friendly but seems like a big ol scam to take a tour to one. Just walk in lol. Be adventurous

The lady in yellow doesn’t look overly impressed by her neighbour’s rendition of “Hey Jude”.

Snack bars are well-known for adding spurious charges to the bill. Japanese will go to one they know but tend avoid one's they don't know or haven't been introduced to by a friend as the chances of being ripped off are too high. Because of this risk many bars have sprung up that do not have additional charges. Izakaya are a much better experience as they are more reasonably priced.

Those bars are supposed to be intimate and with the usual same customers.

With no talking/reading Japanese skill, any tourist is just clueless. And I like it this way.