Blame tourist for all your countries problems
Refuse tourist into many Izakayas for decades
Fail to capture the tourist market for decades
Prices rise and force out much of the native population
Try to pivot to the same tourist you told to GTFO and never marketed to
???
FORECLOSURE!
Literal pottery.
Not a smart marketing decision to gatekeep Izakayas from people with money. Many tourist out earn even the most skilled of salarymen by a wide margin. Not marketing to this group has been a massive mistake, foolish.
Honestly, as a foreigner who has been to Japan many times, I find izakaya to be extremely intimidating. I only go to them if I have someone local to go with.
I can see how it can be a bit intimidating. Even I don’t go into the hyper local ones because they all have their unique vibes. But I think that’s the same with any small bars elsewhere in the world. I dunno if I’d have the balls to just roll into a tiny pub in rural Ireland without knowing anyone there.
But if you’re in a big city and it looks like a busy place, I’m sure most places will be happy to serve you. I think it would help if you could communicate with them a bit in Japanese but English will do, too. But don’t go in assuming or expecting them to understand and serve you in English.
Just have a few things you wanna eat ready in your head, and ask “[food/drink] onegaishimasu” and you’re good to go! After a few beers I’m sure you’ll stop worrying too much.
Why?! On my last Japan trip I visited many izakayas. Great food, friendly people, nice vibes. Yes you have to use Google Translate and still you have no idea what you’re ordering (or sometimes there isn’t really a menu), but who cares, everything is delicious anyway.