Ten cards for the smallest rooms in Japan
The hardest doors in Japan are the smallest ones. A yatai has ten stools and no menu you can read. A Golden Gai bar has six seats and a cover charge nobody explains. These ten cards cover the whole night: getting in, the dish you didn't order, what the skewers are, and how to leave like you've done it before.
$4.99 free for now
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Free until September 15 — then this pack is $4.99. If you download before September 15: you keep every card you took, and every correction to those cards, forever. That was the promise and it stands — nothing is taken back and nothing expires. Cards released after September 15 are part of the paid packs, for everyone. No newsletter unless you ask for it.
Every Japanese line on this site is a draft written from standard, high-frequency phrasing. None of it has been through a native-speaker register check, and that check is the thing standing between these cards and a price. What has and has not been checked is written out in full.
Why images
Built for an alley, at night
They are images. Save them to your camera roll before you fly, and they open with no signal, in an alley, at night, which is where you will need them.
Each card pairs with a free guide that is the whole answer in prose — start at the yokocho and yatai hub and the eight guides it routes to. The cards are the same answers at counter size, not better ones.
One card
This is what a night card looks like
What's inside
The ten cards (JPEG 1080 × 1620 + one printable PDF sheet)
| Card | The line you hold up | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| 01 — Can I sit here? | ここ、いいですか？ | At a yatai, hold up fingers and wait for the cook's nod. Peeking first is expected. |
| 02 — Is there a cover charge? | チャージはありますか？ | Golden Gai covers run ¥500–1,500, posted at the door. The unasked dish is otoshi, ¥300–600 — seat rent, not a scam. Yatai: no cover, but one drink and one dish each. |
| 03 — Draft beer to start, please. | とりあえず生ください | The drink order comes first, within a minute of sitting. In a group, wait for the kanpai before drinking. |
| 04 — The assorted platter, please. | 盛り合わせをください | momo = thigh · negima = thigh + leek · tsukune = meatball · kawa = skin · sunagimo = gizzard · bonjiri = tail · butabara = pork belly, the Fukuoka default. Skewers ¥100–300; order in rounds of two or three. |
| 05 — Radish and egg, please. | 大根と卵をください | daikon = radish · tamago = egg · chikuwa = fish cake · konnyaku = konjac · mochi kinchaku = mochi purse · gyūsuji = beef tendon. ¥100–200 a piece; the karashi mustard is hot. |
| 06 — Extra noodles, please. (¥100–200) | 替え玉ください | The scale, soft to hard: yawa → futsū → kata → barikata → harigane. Free counter toppings: beni-shōga, takana, sesame, garlic. Slurping is correct. |
| 07 — Lemon sour, please. | レモンサワーください | nama = draft beer · chūhai / sawā = shōchū with soda · shōchū: rokku (rocks), mizuwari (cold water), oyuwari (hot water — the winter yatai order) · sake: atsukan = hot, reishu = cold. |
| 08 — The bill, please. | お会計お願いします | Crossed index fingers in an X works across a loud counter. Money goes on the tray, not into a hand. Only about 10% of yatai take cards; the 24-hour ATM is Seven Bank, inside any 7-Eleven. |
| 09 — I don't understand Japanese. | 日本語がわかりません | "Manseki desu" or "ippai desu" at the door means full — not personal. Nod, say "mata kimasu" (I'll come again), and try the next door. |
| 10 — No dashi (fish stock) or seafood either. | だしも魚介もダメです | "No meat" fails on dashi — the stock in oden and most simmered dishes is fish. 〇〇抜きで = without 〇〇. Show the card rather than saying it. |
Compare
Against the other packs
Every card on the site, one email, one download.
- All 23 cards at full resolution — the 13 core situations plus the 10 night cards
- The printable sheet and one-file ZIP
- Works offline — images, not an app
- Free until September 15 — what you take now stays free forever
Ten cards for the smallest rooms in Japan: yatai and yokocho.
- 10 cards for yatai stalls and yokocho bars: getting in, the cover charge, ordering, paying, leaving
- Decoder cards for yakitori, oden, Hakata ramen and the drinks menu
- One printable PDF sheet, grayscale, cut marks
- Free until September 15, then $4.99. Email for the link
All 22 situation cards, phone and print.
- 13 of 22 cards drawn today, at 1080 × 1620, for the camera roll
- Print sheets, 4-up with cut marks, US Letter and A4
- Works offline — they are images, not an app
- Corrections and updates free forever for early downloaders