The Japan News by The Yomiuri Shimbun
Ryotei restaurants put twist on tradition in bid to survive
Traditional Japane s e r yot e i restaurants are facing tough times. Amid the spread of the novel coronavirus when many people are staying home, ryotei, which have long been a luxurious and business-style setting for dining, are eager to attract new customers through unconventional services. These include allowing customers to view geisha dance performances via video and delivering the taste of the ryotei to their homes — all for the sake of keeping this part of the culture alive.
“In a typical year, our tables are all booked almost every night during the year- end party season,” said 52- yearold Shota Asada, president of Akasaka Asada, a ryotei in Tokyo’s Akasaka district.
“But this year, we’ve received a frightening number of cancellations.”
Asada opened in Akasaka in 1971 with its roots in a long- established ryokan inn in Kanazawa. It has for decades entertained political figures and those in business circles with its strong reputation for Kaga cuisine, featuring fresh ingredients brought in daily from Kanazawa, as well as its geisha who sing and dance.
The number of customers has drastically declined because of the “new lifestyle” amid the coronavirus crisis, during which mealtime conversations and the pouring of drinks for customers at dinner tables are discouraged.
The government’s Go To Eat campaign, which was set up with the intent of supporting the restaurant industry, briefly helped Akasaka Asada emerge from a slump, but the ryotei has experienced another spate of cancellations of year- end party reservations since late November as infections have been on the rise again.
Under these circumstances, Asada offers private rooms with a space of about 2 meters between seats and, at the customer’s request, also sets up acrylic panels.
Consideration is given to not tarnishing the elegance of ryotei, so geisha cover their mouths with sanitized or transparent handheld fans when pouring drinks and speaking to customers.
An association comprising ryotei in Akasaka, among others, took a new approach in which geisha dance performances were recorded on video and displayed in the private rooms. Normally, it costs tens of thousands of yen to invite a geisha to perform in a room. Video allows customers to enjoy the geisha performances at a reasonable cost.
“We wouldn’t have come up with this idea without the pandemic,” Asada said. “I hope this will be an opportunity for those who have never had a chance to visit ryotei to experience our culture.”
PERSEVERANCE
Ac c ord i ng t o the Tokyo-based association for promotion of Japanese culinary culture, ryotei in Tokyo began in the mid-Edo period (16031868) as a place for cultural figures to gather and enjoy food and drink. There were 523 ryotei in Tokyo at the peak in 1977, but the number had plummeted to 36 in 2019.
A number of ryotei had closed even before the pandemic because of a lack of successors, diminished interest in washoku Japanese cuisine and dietary diversification.
In recent years, however, washoku and geisha performances have drawn increased attention again, thanks to a jump in the number of overseas visitors, and ryotei have looked at the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics as a great business opportunity.
Although the pandemic is a major blow, ryotei view the situation as a chance to spread their culture to those who have less exposure to it by doing things such as launching a service that allows customers to sample their cuisine from the comfort of their own homes.
Shimogamo Saryo, a restaurant in Kyoto that began operating in 1856, has suffered with almost no group visits during the spring and autumn tourist season. It then started selling a series of “ouchi ryotei” bento meals that allow customers to enjoy Shimogamo Saryo’s dishes without having to visit.
Many bento are usually factory-made, but the restaurant’s ouchi ryotei bento are timed for when customers are ready to receive their orders.
“Nothing will come from us simply lamenting the fact that there are no customers here,” a person in charge at Shimogamo Saryo said. (Dec. 22)