From our other sites
The story
A 5ch thread blew up over how ultra-cheap izakayas advertising 150-yen draft beer actually turn a profit. One poster revealed the trick: “It’s ‘draft beer’ because they’re using kegs of Tanrei” (a low-malt happoshu, not real beer). Meanwhile, a photo of a 400-yen block of cold tofu (hiyayakko) at an Osaka izakaya sparked a debate over whether it was a rip-off or a fair price.
What people said
Guess that's really how it is, huh?
But then there's food too — like 50-yen chicken skin skewers!
Wonder how Shintendai packs 'em in like that? 190-yen beer and 50-yen skewers are tempting, but once I went, once felt like enough.
How's the taste?
Seems too cheap to be any good, so I've never actually been.
The potato salad — the kind that's a pain to make yourself — is actually great there.
If you're drinking a lot, all-you-can-drink ends up cheaper anyway,
so it's probably mostly young or casual drinkers.
The Toriyarou chicken-izakaya chain is similar, but some of their locations actually ban anyone over 40.
that's why it's technically "draft beer" (really happoshu, a low-malt brew).
Whoa
so that's the trick behind it.
Just the liquor tax alone on a regular glass of draft is about 70 yen.
Shintendai? There's one in Yurakucho too.
That's just your bias talking. There's no way cold tofu costs 400 yen, right? Well, that's exactly the point — plenty of à la carte items and dishes really are overpriced rip-offs.
Lol, you're just trying to flex that you drink at fancier places.
Ugh…
where do you even normally go drink then?
I mean it as a price that doesn't match the going rate.
Don't nitpick my wording so much.
Ordering something you yourself think is overpriced makes no sense.
Do you even realize what you're doing? lol
Sometimes you pay for something even while thinking it's not worth it, just going "eh, whatever."
A little wasteful spending is the spice of life too.
Fair enough, but then don't call it a rip-off.
A rip-off price is a rip-off price.
Everyone ordering it knows it's normal for an izakaya but outrageous anywhere else — no need to call it out.
If something costs a few dozen yen to make and doesn't even need cooking, but they charge 500 yen for it, sure, some people are gonna call that a rip-off.
If you don't see it that way, fine, that's your call.
Actually, you don't even need beer to be on the menu.
So what, sake or highballs instead then?
Forcing myself to drink chuhai instead kind of defeats the purpose anyway.
Some places say "beer" on the menu but actually serve Kinmugi (a cheap happoshu brand) instead.
In that sense, an all-you-can-drink deal that actually gives you bottled beer is a godsend.
Highball and more highball.
Green tea highball or chuhai works too.
If you just want to get drunk, the cheap sake in the all-you-can-drink deal does the job.
Honestly, I drink highballs too these days. At the end of the day, it doesn't really need to be beer.
Right? Chains like Hidakaya feel cheaper to me.
Exactly this.
Teketeke and Toriichizu are unbeatable.
Places like that actually tend to taste pretty good too — I guess the consistency is exactly why they can land those contracts.
Oh wait, we're talking chains here. Well, with chains, because of those contracts, other stuff on the menu tends to end up surprisingly pricier, doesn't it?
Guess I don't even feel the urge to drink that much anymore…
Yeah, right…
that's a young person's game.
Nah, you should still go out — don't you want snacks that taste better than what you'd make yourself?
I envy people who can just drink without eating.
Wait, seriously? The drink plan doesn't come with food?
Background and Key Points
For readers unfamiliar with Japanese drinking culture, the key piece of background is Japan’s tiered liquor tax. Beer proper carries the highest tax; “happoshu” (low-malt brews like Kirin’s Tanrei) and “third-category” beers are taxed lower and cost izakayas far less to buy. Critically, the Japanese term for draft beer, “nama biru,” technically just means beer poured from a keg tap rather than a bottle — it describes the serving method, not the beverage category. That loophole is what lets ultra-cheap izakayas legally advertise “150-yen nama” while actually pouring happoshu, as the thread’s most-liked post pointed out. Tokyo/Osaka izakayas commonly use this drink as a loss-leader, recouping margin on food, all-you-can-drink (nomihoudai) plans, or bulk wholesale beer contracts with chains.
Where the thread actually split was over the 400-yen hiyayakko (cold tofu) — one camp called it an outright rip-off for a dish requiring no cooking, while others argued that knowingly paying above-market price for izakaya convenience and atmosphere isn’t really being “ripped off,” since everyone understands the markup going in.
What the thread doesn’t spell out, and outsiders likely won’t grasp, is that “happoshu” isn’t some obscure knockoff — it’s a mainstream, heavily marketed category with its own brand loyalty in Japan, not simply “fake beer.” Also worth noting: one poster mentioned the Toriyarou chain banning customers over 40 at some locations, a real and distinctly Japanese practice tied to keeping izakayas feeling youthful, but the thread never explains the reasoning, leaving foreign readers to assume it’s a joke rather than an actual house policy.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Live News G board) thread “You know how there’s sometimes an izakaya with like ‘150 yen for a draft beer’!?“
Leave a Reply