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Describe your image
Describe your image
Describe your image
What is Golden Gai like?
Maps of Golden Gai
Created by Erika
What Kind of Shops are There?
by Reo
To begin…
One thing that you can imagine when going into Golden-Gai is that there are bars or snacks or maybe restaurants. Yes, this is right and is necessary background information for this website visitors to be familiar with. Here, there will be important types of shops listed to give you an insight. With the knowledge, the individual pages created by each member will be fascinating. So, make sure you check all the details! Also, check Erika’s map (above) to get the image of Golden-Gai.
Why are there different shops?
In order to be successful, restaurant operators need to create a pleasant service scape and provide excellent service to their customers. The services-cape is the physical environment of a service organization where the service transaction occurs; it is composed of numerous elements such as the color, music, scent, and layout and design in a physical environment (Lin and Mattila, 2010).
The text shows the importance of restaurants having an environment that could satisfy the customers. The created environment can attract customers to Golden-Gai. This can be achieved by having a theme or concepts. Concepts and themes would help the place to become a distinguishable place. This goal is achieved by having “color, music scent layout and design.” Each shop having these distinguishable senses allows every one of them to be different and; therefore, interesting.
Customers will pursue “that” shop and staff will make the shop “that” shop.
Based on your current knowledge, what types of shops can you imagine in GOLDEN-GAI?
What are the common types of shops we can see when visiting?
Lists of Shops
Targeting Customers Through Features of a Shop
A shop for a particular character of a person
The middle and the left picture target a particular type of person. A shy person or a person is welcome according to the photo on the very left. The words written say that shop of the shy people, for the shy people, by the shy people; similar to Lincoln's famous word that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. Three posters in the middle picture are giving information about the particular concept of the shop: middle age dating and relationship counseling center. Interestingly according to an interview, this place is not so focused on giving advice to the customers…
People might need a place to talk about issues they might have regarding their love and relationship or shyness. A particular community is created by giving a specific concept of the shop. The staff is fully utilizing the opportunity to get these types of people and customers to feel interested and go in to have a drink.
A shop with a specific concept
The photo on the very right shows that they have a specific concept of a shop. Shinsatsushitsu (examining room) is the concept of the shop thus, they provide drinks that are medically based. Also, the word nurse appears on the whiteboard. The shop’s name is on the top of the photo. The plate written is quite old looking. The use of the whiteboard is also different from other shops where they tend to use paper.
When considering this type of shop wandering in Golden-Gai, it should be always interesting. Especially, a shop theme with the actual place, a medical care center, allows a strange atmosphere to be created since people usually do not drink in a hospital.
Hobby Concept Shops
Another specific type of targeting is based on hobbies that the customer might have. Here there are three examples: books, plastic models, and manga.
The name Bungo Bar (master of literature bar) shows that the bar is focusing on book authors. Tuskini Hoeru (roaring at the moon) gives an impression of a book title. This place is new and has windows. The place is not avoiding too much of newcomers but gives more opportunities for people who would like books.
People who like plastic models should be welcome to this place and is another example of people having similar hobbies that they can talk about with others. The look of the door already has an inorganic impression which is referring the plastic models. The use of color is similar to the plastic models. The atmosphere already created in front of the shop enables the shop to appeal to the unity of the shop concept of plastic models.
Targeting specific people. People who would like to talk about authors or about books can kindly enter. One example of a community created by having the same hobbies.
Closed Community Bars
Members Only
Only members are allowed to enter these types of bars. Unless you do not know someone in the place or you pay, you cannot be in the place. These types of places exist a lot in Golden-Gai and create privacy as well.
Just by looking at the door or the posters, they explicitly state that they are members-only type bars. The way that the shops present this is different. Sometimes it is in Kanji, or sometimes it is in English. The doors have less information compared to the other doors in Golden-Gai.
Check out Kaya’s Page for Members Only shops
Community-based
The shop is run based on human relationships. Names are on the board; therefore, people can know who is coming and who is not. Names placed here are quite obvious to observe since the poster is a place where a person would look when they stand in front of the door. This aspect regulates people to enter which creates a small range of community inside. Giving people more chances to interact deeply with each other rather than saying hi or just talking as a temporal friend. Knowing each other is crucial and will be covered by だれか？
Hidden
Hidden bars also exist a lot. They show that the bar is only for members like this picture or they do not say anything. The name of the shop is also hidden which makes this place invisible to the people who walk They cannot look up what type of place this is unless they see the map of Golden-Gai.
The doors here do not give any information. Most of these types of shops do not have windows to show inside. Even if they had information about the shop they would be just marks (the left bottom).
When shops do not reveal their inside, or what kind of place it is, it enables them to create a community that is small. They would not accept newcomers which is similar to the types of shops above.
Old Fashion Snack-type Bars
The staff inside was a middle-aged woman. These types of bars exist a lot in Golden-Gai providing people a place to talk with mama. Some mama is famous that they have their shops for more than a decade or they have the shop itself from a very old period.
These types of bars are easy to see since they all have old fashion names such as Gamaguchi or Suzu, like in the picture. Most of the shop's names are also in Hiragana rather than English or Kanji. When looking into the shop, most f the time the shops will have an aged woman standing inside the shop wiping glasses or sitting on the customer's seats looking at the smartphones or TV.
These types of shops always give the impression of being at home. They are not too fancy or tidy that prevent customers to enter the shop. There would be a good balance of the “feel at home” concept and being at a bar. Also, customers here want to talk with the mama who has different characteristics.
Not the Bar Type Shops
Cafe
The blackboard placed on the road appeals to the shop as a cafe. They also have important information that they provide sweets and coffee. This information is necessary when thinking that most of the shops in Golden-Gai are just a drinking place and a cafe does not want it to be the same as the rest of the shops. They need to show that they are actually providing cafe menus.
A casual place for people to enter even though Golden-Gai has many difficult places to enter as newcomers’ impression that is formed by media. A cafe is a casual use. They can enter during the daytime when other places are not open. There is no need to drink because it is a cafe.
Food Main
Some shops provide food to customers. They are casually showing that anyone could enter the shops than other shops. Food type shops allow customers to usually see what type of food they are serving since their purpose is to attract customers with their cuisines.
The left photo and the right photo both include the picture of food giving the impression that they are providing real food. The food is the main rather than drinking and talking with the staff and customers. Also, the middle photo on the right shows that they give soba to the customers. The very left photo gives the impression that they provide food since it says “kitchen.”
All of the distinguishment made here enable the shops to be not the main place for drinking but to enjoy food inside Golden-Gai which is somewhat different from what you would know about this place.
So...
These kinds of shops that give people an opportunity to find an interesting place to enter are one fun aspect of Golden-Gai. Some shops might not be covered here or some might have two aspects at the same time. This is where you have to actually go and find out the real Golden-Gai. But at least now the readers should have a good idea of what kind of shops are there in Kabukicho Golden-Gai. You can move on to other sections to find out more information.
About
Golden Gai
History of Golden Gai
by Kaya
The origins of Golden Gai date back to just after the end of the war in 1945. The black market on the east side of Shinjuku Station was relocated by the Occupation Forces to the area where Golden Gai is now located. The old name of Golden-Gai is Sanko-Cho, and it was a vast vacant lot with few buildings.
A major factor that shaped the area was its past as a blue line, an illegal prostitution area. Women took customers on the second and third floors of the buildings, and the area thrived until the Anti-Prostitution Law was fully enforced in 1958. After the Anti-Prostitution Law was enacted, the business was transformed into a bar area, but the atmosphere of the area and the tenement-style buildings have remained unchanged from that time.
Around 1970, new Japanese culture, including music, movies, theater, and art, was swirling in Shinjuku. The wave of the counterculture that opposed established values gave a new personality to Golden Gai. The atmosphere in which writers, poets, theater performers, media representatives, and various other cultural figures spent all night drinking and discussing was a characteristic of Golden Gai that has been passed down to the present day.
Golden-Gai is an interesting place as we all know, but why do we feel this way or maybe another way? Then, the question, where do we actually get the information about Golden-Gai that helps most of the people to have the image of this place?
Golden Gai on the internet
by Reo
In the article on media representation of anthropology, the mass media will function as a key to interpreting information more personally (Spitulnik, 1993). Media helps people to shape an original image, which enables every internet user to have a certain image of Golden-Gai.
Golden Gai: A Closed Community?
by Reo
Nihon-Telebi’s article points out that Golden-Gai is a dense community by referring to the covid-19 3 ways to avoid density from the Tokyo government (”Does Dense Drinking Disappears From Shinjuku Golden-Gai,” 2021). Golden-Gai community is interactive. Golden-Gai allows everyone to closely interact with each other. This is what we see here.
What is Golden-Gai like? “Groups with more than 4 people are not allowed to enter.” “Regular customers only.” (”Why staffs in Golden-Gai is relieved for not having Olympic Special Demand,” 2021) People who saw Golden-Gai see it as a regular image of Golden-Gai.
Media presents Golden-Gai as a small, dense, and overall, closed community: is this actually true?
Golden
Gai Communities
How do people in golden gai generate its community?
The community produced within Golden Gai's bars is created by the individuals both the bar owners and the customers. By introducing themselves, engaging in discussion, giving suggestions, and connecting people, the bar owners would help create a distinctive ambiance. However, customers are not in a position where they can just receive hospitality. The atmosphere of the pub and its town is jointly created by the staff and patrons. A patron who is unpopular with the owners or staff may be asked to leave the establishment.
Customers would work to protect the atmosphere by following the unspoken rules of Golden Gai. Such as staying for a certain amount of time or keeping identities private, customers contribute to making Golden Gai a place where all customers can comfortably converse deeply. It can be thought that how the social statuses and racial identities become nothing makes this area so unique.
Additionally, by employing visual branding, the bar owners would use specific items to express the kind of bar it is, and these items enable us to deduce the ambiance they offer. Dang's visual branding concepts were used to take a closer look at this. Each feature would distinguish its bar from the other bars both within and outside of Golden Gai. As a visual depiction of the bar to passersby, membership boards, bar names, and posters, for example, might convey the sort of bar.
Finally, the way that bar owners start different discussions and interactions is what creates the distinctive, deep ties among the residents of Golden Gai. Customers would be welcomed and exposed to a space where they could express their deepest feelings without being concerned about what other people would think of them because they had not revealed their identities and had the option to leave the bar at any time.
📌 Further information can be found on the following pages:
About Neighbour Communities
by Shia
In this section, I would like to address external sources regarding the neighboring communities that could support our project. Young and Pattillo, describe how two of her neighbors—working-class African Americans and white professionals—serve as illustrative instances of what they perceive to be wrong with the neighborhood's social structure. The other woman is criticized by the woman from the lower class for acting in a way that demonstrates how unsuited Black Americans are to contribute positively to a flourishing community. The reader may be in awe of Pattillo because of the way one woman spoke so brazenly about the other without realizing that the person they were mocking was also saying the same thing (Young, 2012; Pattillo 2001, p. 55).
The reading above shows that there are different kinds of communities living in a single city and there are some conflicts happening within the neighboring community.
In this project, it is important to focus on various aspects, such as people, objects, rules, and senses to analyze how the neighboring community of Golden Gai is created and constructed. Thus, Young and Pattilo provide a vital point to our research regarding the importance of deeply observing and analyzing how the community is made in Golden Gai, a unique place.
