[HN Gopher] Inside the secret world of Japanese snack bars
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Inside the secret world of Japanese snack bars
Author : rmason
Score : 40 points
Date : 2026-01-20 21:34 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.bbc.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.bbc.com)
| wolvoleo wrote:
| Cool, in Holland snack bars are not homely at all. Some have just
| little cubbyholes in the wall where you insert a coin and take a
| croquette from behind a little window (we like buying stuff from
| behind windows I guess, lol).
|
| And if there is staff it's usually a big grumpy guy. And the food
| is really greasy. It's not a place you go for fun. It's more for
| quick fix food (though some of it is delicious though bad for
| you)
|
| I didn't like Japan much personally because it's so conservative
| and traditional (like it says there in the article LGBTQ+ is
| still an issue there, tattoos are frowned upon, life is pretty
| formal etc). So I don't feel at home there. And as such I've
| never really explored it. It's a nice country with nice people
| but I just don't fit in which was awkward for me. I'm more at
| home at a burning man kinda setting :)
|
| But this sounds pretty cool. If I do have to go there again some
| day I'll look one of these places up.
| anonymous908213 wrote:
| I think LGBTQ acceptance in Japan is _significantly_ better
| than any Western country. The "issue", as it manifests, is of
| a fundamentally different nature. Not everyone is open to it,
| of course, and legal marriage is not an option[1]. But while
| there are many people who are somewhat bigoted, Japan is not an
| Abrahamic country. Unlike any Christian or Islamic country, the
| number of people who _hate_ LGBTQ individuals, want them all to
| go to Hell, and make their entire political identity based
| around hurting them, or actually committing violence against
| them, is significantly smaller.
|
| [1] Notably, the lack of legalised marriage is not because the
| population is too conservative. Rather, it is because the US
| forced a constitution on Japan which enshrines heterosexual
| marriage as constitutional law, and changing the constitution
| is significantly more difficult than changing a normal law.
| There is broad popular support for same-sex marriage, and it
| would almost certainly be legal if not for this fact.
| hsbauauvhabzb wrote:
| I travelled there with my same sex partner. We had zero
| issues in a single bed hotel room, and there were plenty of
| gay bars. We did find the cover charge difference for gays vs
| straights amusing (where gay entry was cheaper).
|
| I'm sure there are social issues, a local bartender told us
| they had linguistic limitations that acted as sort of
| barriers to expression, and I'm sure there are issues for gay
| youth, but as a whole it felt relatively similar to most
| western countries from a safety/friendliness perspective. Gay
| marriage is a slow turnaround, and given Japanese culture is
| socially conservative I imagine that might take a while, but
| marriage and social acceptance are not necessarily tightly
| coupled.
| mwigdahl wrote:
| I'm confused where the assertion about the constitution is
| coming from. There have been at least 5 years of lower court
| decisions in Japan stating that lack of same sex marriage is
| unconstitutional. See the below article noting that the
| current ban on same sex marriage is due to civil law, not the
| constitution.
|
| https://apnews.com/article/japan-lgbtq-samesex-marriage-
| ruli...
| tokioyoyo wrote:
| Imo, the article is exaggerating quite a bit, and written from
| a perspective of a tourist, which is fair. Nowadays these bars
| aren't hidden or try to be out of sight. Like there's a whole
| google maps category just for these type of establishments.
|
| But in general, you'd expect what was outlined in the post.
| From my friends and etc., food might range from pretty bad to
| average. Might get charged service fee if you're not hyperlocal
| to the bar. Also atmosphere, once again, depends. City,
| neighbourhood, sleeziness level and etc.
|
| About the gay stuff... Honestly it's more of a "i don't care
| just don't show it off" attitude, rather than "no gays
| allowed". But the "don't show it off" part applies to straight
| people as well. Nobody is gonna do or say anything, but an
| auntie might shake their heads as they pass by.
|
| Tattoos are a bit different. If you're white, nobody will care
| unless they're very visible (face/neck). You'll be barred from
| some establishments (e.g. onsens/gyms), but if it's coverable
| with the covers then it's fine. Mostly historical reasons, and
| people's aversion from accidentally hanging out with the
| "troublesome crowd" as one would say.
| hsbauauvhabzb wrote:
| It's worth pointing out that there are certainly
| establishments where tourists aren't welcome. Ironically I've
| had some gay friends walked from a local only gay bar to the
| tourists welcome gay bar across the street :-)
| charcircuit wrote:
| It's not a secret. They are public businesses and many are on
| Google Maps.
| christkv wrote:
| When I hitchhiked around Japan in 1999 snackbars were our goto
| places to have a drink as there was always some affordable home
| cooking (I was pretty broke) and decently priced drinks. We also
| had such a great time meeting locales.
| tempest_ wrote:
| It is an interesting concept when contrasted with the
| disappearance of "third places" in the western world.
| reconnecting wrote:
| Perfect Days (1) had a nice illustration of sunakku.
|
| 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_Days
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