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From the Olympics Toward Tomorrow
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Refusals of service sure to invite misunderstanding
- Restaurant and pub owners in Nagano say it's because they can't speak English
It was nearly midnight when three male foreign men of large build made their way into a very small bar only large enough for a counter and seats. A slightly irritated man in his forties spoke out to the 27 year-old woman behind the counter in English. He was apparently asking, "Can we come in? How much is the beer?" It happened in the busy Gondou shopping area of Nagano City, in the bitter cold of mid-February.
The three men were in Nagano with a Norwegian group of athletes participating in the World Speed Skating Championships being held at the Olympic venue M-Wave. They say, "Walking from our hotel in front of Nagano Station we've been turned away from every place we tried to go in-- more than twenty shops."
All three faces showed the exhaustion and anger of walking around for an hour and a half searching for a pub, an ordeal that they never thought would happen in Japan. They started drinking beer and before long something like 20 empty bottles lined the counter.
One of the men complained to a Japanese customer who entered the bar after them. "Even if a Japanese can't speak Norwegian, in Norway they can get into any bar they want. I mean, when it comes down to it aren't all of you and all of us the same human beings?"
That evening the three sang karaoke and drank until 3 a.m. They left by saying "we'll for sure come again next year." By the time they returned to the hotel their good spirits had returned.
But the woman who manages the bar now has quite complicated feelings. "They just kind of pushed their way in, I couldn't turn them away. I was a bit surprised." Apparently one of the Norwegians went behind the counter and opened a bottle on his own because the server couldn't understand what he wanted. She says with a nervous smile, "I think I've had enough of them."
 A pub in Nagano City with a reputation for attracting foreign customers. The owner says, "We don't do anything special. We only treat our foreign guests as we would any other customer."
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Maybe the customer's "twenty shops" was a bit of an exaggeration. But during the recent international competitions held just one year previous to the Olympics, voices of disapproval spread among visiting foreigners that some were "turned away from stores" and "refused taxi service."
The "Nagano Restaurant and Bar Association" was formed at the end of May 1997 by about 40 members consisting of hotels and restaurants in Nagano City. They have been exchanging information with NAOC, putting together English menus and guide maps.
They decided to organize the group after hearing of "service refusals" at some businesses and other various complaints from foreigners during previous competitions. They were concerned that something disastrous might happen "if something wasn't done." The association has been looking into setting up a special service offering suggestions and help to stores suffering language problems by simply dialing 110 from their telephone. Yukio Yamazaki (age 57), a restaurant manager and one of the initial promoters admits, "The venues are finished but it appears that we have yet to begin raising the level of service."
NAOC estimates that roughly 200,000 foreigners will visit Nagano Prefecture during the Olympic period. This is just more than a tenth of the number of foreigners who came to Japan for sightseeing purposes last year. What kind of problems are likely to occur during the Olympics? Yamazaki doesn't hide his fears, saying "We really don't know."
For a long time Japanese society had given itself over to an idea that it was a racially homogenous society. Compared with Western society, which has long seen classifying customers based on skin and hair color and language differences as discriminatory, Japan has less sensitivity towards the problem.
Barbara Eaton of Nagano City (an instructor at an English conversation school) in February while volunteering for the Bobsleigh World Cup event heard an Italian athlete say that "I've heard that there are stores in Nagano that turn foreign nationals away."
Rumors of these rejections have spread like wildfire throughout the world by means of the foreign media in Nagano. Eaton is worried that "Nagano's reputation may take a hit."
Another pub manager in the Gondou Arcade turned away a pair of foreigners who had tried to enter with pleas of "O.K.???"
Giving her reason she said, "If I can't communicate then I can't serve them like I should. I don't think that's any good for the customer." But now, four months later she also thinks that "I probably ought to have had them come in." It appears that her misgivings on both sides will not go away anytime soon.
No part of the article, photographs, or illustrations presented here may be printed or used without permission.
Copyright 1999 The Shinano Mainichi Shimbun