Depending on the place, you may be sitting on chairs around a large table or kneeling on tatami mats, dining around a low table being the traditional style.  Counter seats are also often available and sometimes there are even dug out seats in the floor (although this later style is somewhat rare).

Ordering Food

In larger chains, Izakaya`s will generally have a picture menu so figuring out what you want shouldn`t be too difficult.  Sometimes there will even be a small English description.  Smaller chains or stand alone ones however, typically only display their menu in Japanese and without the aid of a picture.

Food and drinks are ordered throughout the session by pushing a small buzzer on the table or counter. Everything is brought to your table by the staff and unlike a normal restaurant, all food items are shared amongst everyone.  The bill at the end is almost always divided up equally amongst everyone so you might as well eat your fair share.

Instead of ordering each drink or food item separately, Izakaya`s usually offer tabehoudai (all you can eat) and nomihoudai (all you can drink) deals, allowing you to order as much food and / or drink as you wish with a usual time limit of 90 minutes.

Think back to your last 700ml bottle of spirits. How much did you pay? Probably quite a bit I should think. In Australia a bottle of Jim Beam fetches for around $30 and Wild Turkey about $40 - a fair chunk of the price coming from government tax.

The price in Japan for a bottle of Jim Beam and Wild Turkey is 1,300 yen and 1,600 yen respectively. This equates to around $13.00 and $16.00! (One Aussie dollar is roughly 100 yen).  If Vodka is more your taste then a bottle of Smirnoff will set you back 900 yen ($9.00).

The reason you can buy cheap alcohol in Japan is because consumption tax is set at a rate of 5 percent for everything, unlike other countries where governments tag as much tax to alcohol as possible. The same 5 percent consumption tax naturally applies to cigarettes also. A pack of 20 costs 300 yen.

Now, how about going out to drink at a bar you ask? Things start to get a little more expensive here, rivaling prices you are probably more familiar with. On average you will pay around 500 - 600 yen per drink varying from place to place.

However many places such as izakaya`s and yakiniku shops have a nomihoudai (all you can drink) deal, giving you access to many but not all drinks on the menu for 90 minutes (Beer is always included)! The price varies from place to place but for around 1,000 to 1,300 yen you definitely won’t be disappointed. That’s right! 90 minutes all you can drink for a measly 1,300 yen, meaning you can party hard without busting your wallet.

I seriously doubt you will find a better deal than this, anywhere.

kanpaiii…!

(cheers)