Shibuya Izakaya starts to impose age restrictions

A new trend is emerging among Tokyo izakayas: age restrictions. While most venues aim to appeal to the broadest possible base, some owners in areas like Shibuya deliberately narrow their scope to create a specific social environment. The shift has been highlighted recently by TV Asahi, which launched two age-restricted izakayas – one with an upper limit and the other with a lower limit. To understand whether this is a practical solution to social friction, or a slippery slope towards ageism, we looked at the specific cases reported and how they fit into wider practices of ‘customer choice’.

Zone for alcoholics under 40

In the heart of Shibuya, Tori Yaro, a popular izakaya chain, hung a prominent sign at the entrance making its policy clear, declaring that the venue is a space for those between the ages of 20 and 39. Inside, nearly 90 percent of the customers are in their 20s, attracted by a vibrant energy that borders on chaos.

Tori Yaro’s business model is entirely based on extreme affordability, which appeals to young people. The lemon sour costs 55 yen, the two-hour all-you-can-drink course costs about 1,000 yen, and it’s common for customers to pay a little over 2,000 yen in total for a variety of drinks and dishes.

Toshihiro Nagano, a spokesman for the chain, said the reason behind the restriction was primarily to manage expectations and prevent friction between different age groups.

“Basically, our customers were young people to begin with, and we received a lot of complaints from older customers that the store was too noisy,” he told us. TV Asahi. “So we decided to preemptively narrow the scope [age] gaps, creating a space where everyone can enjoy and feel comfortable. ”

Following this logic, age limits are not hard barriers but soft guidelines. When asked about the izakaya’s reaction to people over 40 trying to enter, Nagano said they would be allowed in if the store’s noise level did not bother them: “Even if they are over 40, if their hearts are in their 20s, we welcome them.”

Taking back Shibuya for older drinkers

At the opposite end of the spectrum is Yao Ya Bar, a charcoal grill specialty store that opened in May 2025, but with the opposite rules: guests must be 25 or older to enter. The venue aims to provide a refuge for adults who feel alienated by Shibuya’s raucous drinking scene.

“We want adults to be able to enjoy food without worries,” Yaoya Ba manager Masayuki Sekawa told TV Asahi. “We want people who hung out in Shibuya 10 or 20 years ago to have fun in Shibuya again.”

Patrons in their 30s expressed relief at the policy, noting that the absence of rowdy young diners allowed them to speak at a normal volume rather than shouting in a crowded room.

Unlike budget bars that cater to younger drinkers, Yao Ya Bar focuses on a more refined culinary experience, with special dishes such as roast duck and tandoori chicken made with high-quality poultry, priced at more than 2,000 yen per serving.

When teenagers under the age of 25 attempt to visit, staff, after verifying their age, will direct these younger groups to a nearby sister location that has no age restrictions.

Client Choice: Legal Gray Area

The age limit is just the latest version of a broader and often more controversial business practice in Japan known as “age blocking.” kaikourabi ——Customer choice. The concept of customer choice came to national attention in the late 1990s and early 2000s with the Otaru Onsen case, in which a “Japanese Only” sign at a bathhouse sparked a landmark discrimination lawsuit.

Although the court ruled that blanket exclusions based on race were illegal, the case highlighted a major legal gap: Japan lacks a centralized law that explicitly prohibits private companies from setting their own admissions standards.

In the absence of a legal framework, “customer choice” has evolved into a more socially acceptable market segmentation; today this manifests itself in companies restricting entry based on behavior or lifestyle to protect a specific atmosphere. By framing these rules as a way to maintain a venue’s worldview or comfort level, owners are changing the narrative from discrimination to curation.

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Updated on February 2, 2026