The Dark Side of Japan

How to Deal with Annoying Barkers in Tokyo

I was in Shinjuku last night with my friends and we wanted to go somewhere where we can drink and eat. If that's the case in Japan, you would usually go to a place called "Izakaya" where they serve both drinks and foods. In Japan hanging out at night usually includes dinner with drinks this they tend to get expensive. 

Anyway we weren't sure where to go last night so we decided to stroll around Kabuki-cho, trying to look for a decent place to dine. As we walked, there were so many annoying barkers everywhere and following us. They are called "Kyaku hiki" or "cattchi" in Japanese. 

They were getting on my f*cking nerve and I kept saying no I don't need your recommendations we can decide on our own. Then this stupid f*cking motherf*cker told me where exactly are you going heading to? And I was like, why should I even f*cking tell you? It's non of your goddamn business. And there were a couple of more of those Kyaku hiki who bothered us so much by following and kept tapping about their suspicious deals and shit. I know not all of them are rip offs and there are actually some who offer good deals but if you aren't familiar with this better avoid them all. It's also funny that there were police officers who were in charge of arresting these Kyaku hiki since it is illegal for restaurants to send their representatives as barkers on streets but then Kyaku hiki were everywhere even they were doing their things in front of police officers but they don't seem to care at all. What the hell? Why the hell are you even there standing if you aren't going to do anything with them. 

Here's the thing if you want to really negotiate deals with these people here are the general steps for negations. 

1. Inform your request. 

For example: 4 people, cost each around 2000 yen, whether you want all you can drink or not and if it's all you can drink, make sure to ask if they include beer with it. Aside from the price make sure to ask if there's any other miscellaneous charges, and usually make of these places charge table fees to each person. This is sort of a common type of charge and they usually cost 300-500 yen per person. This charge can be however negotiated. 

Make sure on this first phase to question as precisely as possible. If you leave certain part of fees ambiguous they can charge you later for some bullshit. 

2. When all prices and deals are set, ask where the place and the name of the place. When you know the name and location make sure to Google it and check if such place really exists or not. If the restaurant popped in any major Japanese gourmet site then those places should be safe to go.

3. The Kyaku-hiki will take certain deposit when all the deals are fixed. The price is usually something 2000-3000 yen. When you go to the restaurant and tell the waiter or waitress that you paid the deposit, and they'll pay you back the deposit. 
Make sure that you get the deposit back and don't feel bad that deposit has to be paid in advance. I think it's the way they do and the deposit will be the earnings of those Kyaku-hiki.