Bartending in Japan
Bartending in Japan
In America, bartending is seen as something any college kid can do; all you need is to take a one-time class and be able to deal with drunken people. In Japan, however, bartending is a little different. Contrasting to America’s laid-back brashness, Japanese bartending is just a bit more refined. It captures a certain aesthetic and attitude towards one’s work unique to Japan.
Unlike quick and dirty American mixing styles, bartenders in Japan inject a lot of care into their drink making. They take the time to precisely measure the ingredients of the cocktail and present it to the customer like a jeweler showcasing engagement rings- there’ll be no dripping drink on a soggy napkin here, that’d be disgusting. A cousin of mine, who works for a club in Ikebukuro, had this to say about the club’s bartender: “Like most [bartenders] he wears a clean white shirt and a vest all the time. His drinks take forever but sometimes it’s cool to watch him make them and I guess they’re really good- I don’t drink where I work but I definitely believe it. He takes a lot of care and it looks like he zones out a little bit sometimes when he makes them. Daiki [the bartender] is kind of weird, but he’s focused and does a really good job.” This type of description demonstrates a key difference between Japanese and American bartending- care. Even wearing a uniform instead of the typical western Tee shirt and jeans combo gives off a feeling of sophistication (even if the club is a slightly less sophisticated place).
This polished and refined yet not overtly “showy” feeling ties into the Japanese aesthetic of iki and tsū. Iki is an overall expression of simplicity, sophistication, spontaneity, and originality, without being overly showy, cute, or complicated. Japanese bartending is very straightforward in way that gives you a beautiful, carefully made drink in a fashion that appears effortless and fluid. This could be considered iki. Tsū is similar to iki but differs in the
In America, bartending is seen as something any college kid can do; all you need is to take a one-time class and be able to deal with drunken people. In Japan, however, bartending is a little different. Contrasting to America’s laid-back brashness, Japanese bartending is just a bit more refined. It captures a certain aesthetic and attitude towards one’s work unique to Japan.
Unlike quick and dirty American mixing styles, bartenders in Japan inject a lot of care into their drink making. They take the time to precisely measure the ingredients of the cocktail and present it to the customer like a jeweler showcasing engagement rings- there’ll be no dripping drink on a soggy napkin here, that’d be disgusting. A cousin of mine, who works for a club in Ikebukuro, had this to say about the club’s bartender: “Like most [bartenders] he wears a clean white shirt and a vest all the time. His drinks take forever but sometimes it’s cool to watch him make them and I guess they’re really good- I don’t drink where I work but I definitely believe it. He takes a lot of care and it looks like he zones out a little bit sometimes when he makes them. Daiki [the bartender] is kind of weird, but he’s focused and does a really good job.” This type of description demonstrates a key difference between Japanese and American bartending- care. Even wearing a uniform instead of the typical western Tee shirt and jeans combo gives off a feeling of sophistication (even if the club is a slightly less sophisticated place).
This polished and refined yet not overtly “showy” feeling ties into the Japanese aesthetic of iki and tsū. Iki is an overall expression of simplicity, sophistication, spontaneity, and originality, without being overly showy, cute, or complicated. Japanese bartending is very straightforward in way that gives you a beautiful, carefully made drink in a fashion that appears effortless and fluid. This could be considered iki. Tsū is similar to iki but differs in the