Ramen shop in Okinawa bans Japanese customers due to ‘poor manners’

OKINAWA (TR) – A noodle shop on Ishigaki Island, a tourist destination for to its beaches, is turning away Japanese customers due to their “poor manners,” the proprietor of the establishment has revealed.

In a post on Facebook on July 4, Akio Arima, the 42-year-old manager of Menya Yaeyama Style, wrote, “From July to September, we [will] stop accepting Japanese customers, and [are] open only for foreign customers. If you are Japanese but live abroad, please show us your ID.”

Arima added that the noodle house has only 8 seats at the counter. “So please order [at least one bowl] of noodles per customer,” the manager wrote.

Yet the restriction on Japanese diners at Menya Yaeyama Style, which serves bowls of cold and hot ramen and rice dishes, is not the only one in place. “Due to so many troubles, we no longer accept infants or kids,” the manager also wrote on Facebook.

A sign on the front of the shop, which clearly outlines that Japanese guests are not allowed, offers some background about the policy. “Year by year, the manners of Japanese tourists have steadily become poor,” the sign reads.

Decline in business

Arima told J-Cast News (July 13) that the policy is the result of a culmination of behaviors on the part of customers, including the ordering of only one bowl of noodles for two persons and the bringing in food and drinks from outside.

A part-time staff member resigned due to stress after advising a couple to not feed their infant from a single bowl of noodles.

Arima, who is now the only employee, may begin serving Japanese customers from October, the sign on door reads. But for now the initiative has resulted in a decline in business.

“There are no customers at all,” the manager told J-Cast News. “Yesterday I had only two people. As expected, many people have complained about [the policy]. I am in trouble from a business [perspective], but I will rest my body and clean up the store in doing what I can for a while.”