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want to meet at fmd_good Market Deli
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How can there be so many small shops?
Honestly I think owning a small bar… Can someone explain how Tokyo / Japan's economy can support so many bars, restaurants that can only seat 5-8 people? How do the owners make enough money to get by?
Honestly I think owning a small bar or restaurant like that would be an ideal way to live. But in America, in most cities you wouldn't be able to pay rent with that kind of traffic.
a lot of those tiny places are run by the owner alone or with one family member. no staff costs, they rent a tiny space in a back alley where the rent is prob a fraction of what a street-level spot would be. plus they keep the menu super tight, like 5 items tops, so there's no waste or prep overhead.
the other thing is the drinking culture here. people drink and eat fast, turnover is high even with just 5 seats. someone sits down, has two beers and a skewer, pays and leaves in 45 minutes. that adds up over a night. and a lot of these places don't even open for lunch, just dinner rush and late night, so they're not killing themsleves either.
rent is also just cheaper in those older buildings in places like golden gai or memory lane. a hole in the wall there might be like 80,000 yen a month, which is doable if you're moving 30 covers a night at like 3,000 yen each. not gonna get rich but beats working for someone else i guess.
honestly the biggest thing people miss is that most of these places dont have to make a profit on food. the margins come from alcohol, and japanese drinking culture means people order drinks constantly. a 400 yen highball costs maybe 50 yen to make. sell 20 of those a night and thats 7,000 yen profit before you even count the food.
also a lot of these owners live above the shop or in a cheap apartment nearby. their fixed costs are basically nothing. some old guy in Ueno running a standing bar from 5pm to midnight pays 60k rent, buys 15k of booze and snacks, pockets 150k a month after utilities. thats not much but he owns his apartment outright from his salaryman days so its pure spending money.
theres also a ton of these places that are just fronts for something else. not like shady stuff necessarily, but the owner might be a landlord themselves or have a pension. the bar is just their social life that happens to pay for itself.
The key is that many of these owners bought their buildings decades ago or inherited them. You'll find an old guy running a 5-seat yakitori spot in Shinbashi whose family has owned that tiny building since the 1960s. They have zero mortgage payment, so every yen from the 6 customers who come in each night is pure profit after utilities and ingredients.
There's also a huge difference in what counts as "making enough." Many of these owners are retired salarymen who just want something to do. They're not trying to maximize profit or pay for kids' college. They open at 5pm, close when they feel like it, and the goal is covering their daily expenses plus having a place to hang out with regulars.
The supplier system is built for this scale too. The local tofu shop or fish guy will sell you exactly what you need for the day, no minimum orders. You can walk to the market in the morning, buy 10 skewers worth of chicken thighs and 4 bottles of shochu, and that's your entire inventory for the night. No waste, no storage costs, no wholesaler contracts.
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Where can I find crispy, pan-fried bacon similar to a certain international style?
if u have a costco membership the kirkland thick cut is the move, 4 packs of 500g for around 2500 yen and it crisps up proper in a cold pan. for smaller runs, precce in azabudai hills & the basement at isetan shinjuku both carry imported US & danish brands in the chilled case, just read the label for "thick cut" or "smoked" and not "loin". also worth knowing japanese bacon is often wet-cured so pat it dry before frying or it steams instead of crisping
kaldi coffee farm is hit or miss but their smoked bacon from denmark shows up pretty regular, the 200g pack runs about 600 yen. what actually works better for me is asking the butcher counter at peacock or life to slice the block bacon thick, like 5mm, they do it for free and it crisps way better than the pre-packed stuff. also fwiw cheap bacon crisps faster, the fatty supermarket kind at 300 yen a pack works fine if u cook it from cold in a dry pan and pour off the fat as it renders.
tbh the gyomu super store brand bacon is surprisingly decent for crisping up, its not thick cut but if you cook it low and slow it gets pretty crunchy. the key is the dry cure vs wet cure thing, wet cure steams. also check hanamasa if you have one nearby, they sell big packs of american style bacon thats actually smoked and firm.