Getting customers for Tokyo’s ‘invisible’ restaurants

Many Tokyo restaurants and bars are invisible. That doesn’t mean that they have discovered a scientific way for you to see through them. Rather it means that because space is at a premium in Tokyo, most bars and restaurants can be found in basements and on upper floors in buildings rather than at ground level. As a result people just don’t see them.

One solution to the problem that many bars and restaurants use is to send staff out into the streets to ‘catch’ customers. On any given night in the main hubs of Tokyo, like Shibuya, you’ll find a multitude of people doing their best (in most cases) to reel in customers.

Shooting street photography I see these guys and girls a lot and I’ve mentally started to compare some of the different techniques that they use to animals in a jungle – each one using a different style to catch their prey. Here are a few examples:

The chameleon: stands around making no great effort to get customers, and waits for customers to come to him/her. You can tell the chameleon very easily because they generally stand around with menu in hand looking really bored.

The hyena: stops as many people as possible, flashing the menu at them until someone eventually takes notice. Characterised by constant movement within a small area.

The snake: stands watching from afar until they spot a person matching the customer profile and then they move to intercept, often walking alongside the person giving them the hard sell as they walk.

Here are a few images. I’ll leave you to decide for yourself what animals they represent…

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