Shinjuku Restaurant Serves Kimchi — But Not to Korean or Chinese People

It’s smack in the city’s Korea Town too. Is that against Japanese law?

By Jay Allen

An Italian restaurant and bar in Tokyo is in the news for its blatantly discriminatory window sign. It’s received both support and condemnation for it. But is the bar’s behavior illegal under Japanese law?

Both kimchi and racism are on the menu

Tokyo’s Shinjuku is one of the city’s most diverse locations, with a foreigner population of around 13%. (Foreign residents comprise only around 2% of Japan’s populace.)

Okubo, within Shinjuku, is even more diverse. Known as the city’s Korean Town, it’s host to a number of resident Koreans and shops that cater to Japan’s “Korean Boom.” The area also hosts the so-called “Islam Yokocho,” a home to shops selling Halal food.

That all makes the actions of Okubo Bar (大久保バル), located nearby in Hyakunincho, even more surprising. The Italian bar and restaurant made waves recently with a hand-written message on its window that read: “Although diversity and tolerance may be fashionable, we refuse to serve Chinese and Koreans as it’s unpleasant and saps our will to work.”