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Dec 12, 2023

Men begin serving customers at traditional Japanese restaurant in 'genderless' shakeup

July 4, 2023 (Mainichi Japan) Japanese version TAKAMATSU -- Service staff at traditional Japanese restaurants, or ryotei, are usually women in kimonos, but one here has four male servers. This

July 4, 2023 (Mainichi Japan)

Japanese version

TAKAMATSU -- Service staff at traditional Japanese restaurants, or ryotei, are usually women in kimonos, but one here has four male servers. This Mainichi Shimbun reporter visited the restaurant to find out how it decided to go with "genderless" roles.

On the evening of May 24, at Ryotei Nicho in the Kagawa prefectural capital Takamatsu, four men dressed in hakama, or formal men's divided skirts, greeted guests at the elegant and deep entrance with female attendants, saying, "Welcome." They kneeled, bowed with smiles, and briskly led the guests to their dining rooms.

Nicho was established in 1946, and Wataru Yamamoto, 53, who became the third-generation president in 2009, is also executive chef. Since becoming president, he has been keenly aware that "a ryotei is a place where people can experience Japanese culture," and he has been putting a lot of effort into making his service staff top-notch. This is because it is these staff who convey to the customers the passion that has been put into the cuisine.

At the same time, he thought, "There are more and more female cooks in the kitchens, and there are many male serving staff in French restaurants." He then concluded that "distinction between men and women may be meaningless."

Yamamoto decided to change the stereotype that serving Japanese cuisine is a woman's job, and to train men to become a kind of "sommelier of Japanese cuisine" as well.

The first male service staff member was Tatsuki Kawasaki, 20. When he was a third-year high school student, he found a job opening at Nicho. When he learned that he could work in hakama and study tea ceremony, he thought, "This is a cool world that I have never experienced before, and I want to be a part of it." Kawasaki joined the restaurant in April 2021.

Nicho currently has a total of 10 customer service staff, including both men and women. The newcomers learn how to dress in kimono, and Yamamoto, who is also a direct apprentice to a tea ceremony grand master, teaches them how to behave and how to move. They learn all they need to know about backstage work before going out to serve customers. Over the years, they also learn the necessary culture to be able to handle guests in the private tatami rooms on their own.

Kawasaki is currently serving customers in the main restaurant area with his female colleagues. His goal, he says, is "to be able to handle small groups of guests, such as for business meetings, in the private rooms."

The atmosphere of the restaurant has also changed with the addition of male servers. Yamamoto's 54-year-old wife Yoko, the restaurant's chief hostess, says, "It has added energy to the softness that prevailed when the servers were all women. There is now a sharp and clear atmosphere in the restaurant."

Takeshi Hiratsuka, vice president of the Japan Restaurant Association, a Tokyo-based organization of about 180 upscale restaurants in Japan, said, "It's common for men to carry dishes to the door of private tatami rooms and pass them to female servers. However, it's rare for a high-class ryotei to have men serve guests in these rooms."

He added, "Japanese food culture is very deep, and the servers sometimes learn a lot from the customers. As long as the male servers study the culture and etiquette and handle the guest in the tatami room in kimono, I'm sure they will fit in well."

(Japanese original by Masahiko Sasaki, Takamatsu Bureau)