This article is from WeChat official account:Nine lines (ID: jiuxing_neweekly), author: Jian language, edit: Er Shugong, layout: Michael twists, thematic map from: vision China
Under the epidemic, Kyoto, Japan, dare to “decline foreign visitors.”
In order to solve the dilemma of returning to zero income and relying on government relief to survive, Kyoto’s tea houses “big cracks”(大ヌイ)Start” Online business”. That is, with the help of network conference tools such as Zoom, the “Geisha Online Drinking Party” is carried out, performing singing and dancing skills in the form of online video, and chatting and drinking with the guests on the other end of the screen.
However, even if it is online, you have to be regular customers.
Either the participants have been to the “big seam”, or the hostess Touzi Murakami has been added as a friend on social media as a frequent visitor, in the final analysis, it is “restricted to public.”
△The style of geisha performance can only be appreciated by being close
You know, this is an experience that you can’t buy even if you travel in Kyoto with crazy money.
Even in such a difficult period of Chafan, in Kyoto’s famous Hanaichi Gion, tea houses where you can watch geisha performances still follow the principle of “no students”.
△The famous flower street Gion in Kyoto/unsplash
Either change into a regular customer on the spot, or hold the number plate recommended by the regular customer, otherwise, even if you make a special trip to the house countless times, you will be unceremoniously asked to go out.
1. Not all shops in Kyoto are open for you
The film “Maiko Haaaan!!!”, nominated for the Best Screenplay Award at the Japan Film Academy Awards, tells a story:
The male protagonist Onizuka lost his way while studying in Kyoto, after passing by a maiko who showed him the way. He became a big fan of Kyoto Maiko. He not only regards playing baseball with the Maiko girls in the tea house as an ideal in life, but also set up a homepage specifically for Kyoto Maiko, using the keyboard to return to the black powder remote guardian goddesses.
△Maiko gives directions to Onizuka who is studying in Kyoto/The movie “Maiko Haaaan!!!”
After becoming a middle-aged social animal, Onizuka finally waited for a job in Kyoto. After landing, he rushed to the tea house to get a closer look at the maiko style. But he was greeted by the tea house rules of “No visitors“. If you want to step into this door, you must have regular customers lead the way.
In the end, he emptied his brain to design a net celebrity instant noodles, which hugged the thigh of the regular customer of the tea house, President Suzuki, and succeeded in the pilgrimage.
In order to win the hearts of the beauties, Onizuka changed from a mediocre company employee to a baseball star, a super-popular actor, and even a candidate for mayor. The plot is obviously too absurd, but the tea house declining visitors is quite realistic.
△The rule of “No Visitors” prevents Onizuka from entering the tea house/movie “Maiko Haaaan!!!”
In the documentary “Women of Gion: The Story of Kyoto Flower Street” released by NHK TV, Japan also repeatedly emphasized the custom of Gion teahouses not entertaining tourists:
“There are more than 80 teahouses in Gion, such as Fumidai, an old teahouse that has a history of over a hundred years and has been passed on through generations, and has received celebrities such as Kawabata Yasunari. No matter what the new visitors have Such a degree of status and financial resources, if there is no referral from regular customers, we will not enter.“
△Old tea houses like Fumiyo only accept regular customers/documentary “Women of Gion: Kyoto Flower Street Story”
Not only the tea house, but also the Japanese food pavilion that sells top dishes.
Liaoting originated in the Edo period. It was originally a high-end cuisine restaurant operated by local princes to discuss politics and military affairs.
To this day, Liotei is still the back garden of Japanese politics, and even many major decisions affecting history. For example, former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone summoned Liberal Democratic Party representatives to support Junichiro Koizumi’s succession, all with the “night parliament.” The material pavilion was born.
Japan’s three major pavilions open all over Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto. They mainly receive business magnates and foreign guests; while Xinxi Le and Jin Tianzhong, which originated in Tokyo, are gathering places for cultural celebrities and cabinet dignitaries, respectively.
While eating at the food kiosk, the more important thing is to exchange resources and information, so the basic consumption per capita starting at US$700 or 800 is rumored to include the sealing cost of the staff at the kiosk.
△Kyoto/kyoto-kitcho, one of Japan’s three major pavilions
When the business method of declining foreign visitors is associated with pavilions and tea houses, it often gives people a kind of shop that does not welcome visitors, only accepts prominent successful people, and the cost is quite high, which is not what ordinary families like me can do A place to set foot.
However, staying away from visitors is not synonymous with expensiveness. Some of Kyoto’s decorations and displays are quite simple, with small shops that can only accommodate a few tables and chairs in a square inch. There are also small shops that refuse visitors. habit.
Students can be roughly understood as customers entering the store for the first time. It is written “一见さん” in Japanese. If a notice such as “一见さんお断り” is pasted outside the door, it means that this is a store that only serves regular customers. , You can say goodbye to idlers.
△If you see such a notice posted outside the store, don’t go in/tokunew
What’s annoying is that I don’t know if it is to keep the sense of mystery or to enjoy the pleasure of rushing customers. Some stores do not post the notices for declining new customers outside the door.
It’s obviously a Ramen shop in Mencoruoque. When you find a seat to sit down, the chef suddenly tells you apologetically that this is a shop that only caters to regular customers. Please go back wherever you come.
In some pastry shops that sell dim sum, no one is patronizing the proprietress who is stubbing her feet, but when you walk in and want to buy something, the other party bows slightly to you, saying that our dim sum is not for tourists…
I ate closed doors in these humble small stores. For this reason, even Japanese netizens in non-Kyoto area said it was quite popular.
The good guy also posted a question to the lawyer: I came to check in from a long distance, but was rejected by these shops that only accept regular customers without prior notification. In this case, can I ask the shop to pay the travel expenses?
Of course, the answer is no. After all, the self-righteousness that the guest is a god is not legally valid. In order to avoid unnecessary embarrassment, the old artist can only teach you a slightly clumsy identification method here:
A shop that does not display the introduction of the dishes and the price list outside the door, and is too indifferent in soliciting customers, there is a high probability that guests who meet for the first time are not welcome to come. I don’t even want to let you know what it sells. It must be a paradise for regular customers.
2. Declining students, is it arrogant or sentimental?
This business attitude of preferring newcomers to cry only for old people’s laughter originated in the Edo period when the flower street culture was popular.
At that time, Gion in Higashiyama District of Kyoto and Shangshigenen Tea House in Kamkyo District were blooming everywhere. Men with a little financial strength were willing to get drunk with Kabuki. This high-level behavior of drinking flowers and wine is often carried out in the form of a banquet, ordering a table of good dishes in a tea house, and letting the proprietress arrange several girls to sing and dance.
△Shangqixuan/wiki
Geishas of different identities have different charging standards, but the settlement method is all on time. But entertainment activities can easily be overwhelmed, and no one cares about overtime or not. Drinking and chatting are refreshing for a while, but when it comes to the checkout time, the crematorium is often due to insufficient money.
△Geisha performing dance at Shangqixuan/wiki
At that time, it was not like today, when mobile payment was so developed, and there was not enough cash to make money. Drinking flowers and wine is such an elegant occasion, but the end is that there is not enough silver to pay for the appearance fees of the young ladies. What is the face of the customers who come to consume?
The delicate-minded tea house owner thought of a good way:We won’t check it out today, and we’ll change the billing. It’s OK to come back and pay the bill when it’s convenient.
The old customers said that it was very appropriate. You don’t need to calculate how much money to bring to go out. Just be happy and it’s over. The next day, I sent someone to bring the silver liang and I apologized with a small gift. It can be said that the host and the host enjoyed it.
With too frequent patronage, the procedure of paying the bill the next day becomes a bit cumbersome. Over time, the checkout frequency of tea houses has become half a year or even once a year. In Kyoto, the traditional shops with credit will usually be between seven and October ushered in the peak of checkout.
The bill is singled out, and the silver is reached. The trust between people makes the worldly money transactions have the temperature of human affection.
In order to reduce the risk, even the strangers with missing information, such as surname and first name, can only be turned away.
△Japanese Tea House/wiki
The tradition of declining visitors is carried on to this day. In addition to avoiding bad debts, shopkeepers have more consideration.
For example, an old restaurant that does cooking, because they don’t understand the taste preferences of the first-time guests, and they are worried that they cannot provide the most delicious food, so they decline to provide new guests; Izakayas that pay attention to atmosphere, because they can’t understand the customers’ taste I have a temperament and worry that the first time guests will talk loudly and make rude behaviors and interfere with regular customers in the store, so there is no way to welcome this.
In order to successfully enter this relatively closed ecosystem constructed by shop owners and regular customers, there are only regular customers who recommend the old and the new road.
When visiting the home for the first time, a regular customer must be accompanied or introduced by a regular customer. The familiar customers as the introducer consciously assume the responsibility of paying for the rude behavior of the stranger. For example, the guest has escaped the order, the introducer