Blame tourist for all your countries problems
Refuse tourist into many Izakayas for decades
Fail to capture the tourist market for decades
Prices rise and force out much of the native population
Try to pivot to the same tourist you told to GTFO and never marketed to
???
FORECLOSURE!
Literal pottery.
Not a smart marketing decision to gatekeep Izakayas from people with money. Many tourist out earn even the most skilled of salarymen by a wide margin. Not marketing to this group has been a massive mistake, foolish.
Honestly, as a foreigner who has been to Japan many times, I find izakaya to be extremely intimidating. I only go to them if I have someone local to go with.
Why?! On my last Japan trip I visited many izakayas. Great food, friendly people, nice vibes. Yes you have to use Google Translate and still you have no idea what you’re ordering (or sometimes there isn’t really a menu), but who cares, everything is delicious anyway.