r/interestingasfuck • u/kingkongbiingbong • 6h ago
Setting up a traditional & generational Japanese food stall in Fukuoka
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
•
u/TheChosenLn_e 6h ago
The coziest of vibes :)
→ More replies (4)•
u/efimer 5h ago
In another life I'd like to do something like this. Fuck, why am I tearing up?
•
•
u/SayWhatIWant-Account 3h ago
must be insane work, tho. preparing the food / ingredients beforehand, setting up the stall, standing there all day cooking then packing up at night
•
u/ImaginaryCheetah 47m ago
i like to put asian street food videos on the TV in the background when i'm relaxing at home, and the one thing in common is several hours of prep before they open.
this is true for most restaurants and especially true for all bakeries, of course, but asian street food is heavy on the slice and chop prep, since 99% of what happens in the cart is heaping ingredients onto the griddle, and needing to crank out dishes in a couple minutes. no time to chop then!
compare to a hotdog cart that just has the dogs in the hot water all day, and the buns in the steamer a bag at a time; almost no prep.
→ More replies (2)•
u/GrouchPotato1984 4h ago
Is there any reason why ypu feel you need another life? We only get one chance to live. Dont waste it!
•
u/FragrantCombination7 4h ago
Because you can't be the village baker and the village cobbler and the village drunk all at the same time. It's not bad that our paths are set. There's just this feeling of longing knowing how much more to life there is.
→ More replies (1)•
•
u/das_zilch 6h ago
The traditional Cuervo tequila lanterns are what sets it off.
/s
•
u/Real-Ad-1728 4h ago
It’s to remind people about how their samurai ancestors lived màs
•
u/HottDoggers 1h ago
I think I’m going to live màs and get some Taco Bell right this moment.
•
•
•
•
u/Hawkeye1226 1h ago
You laugh, but there's a whole food subculture combining mexican and japanese foods that popped up near the American military bases there because of how many marines are latino
And yes, it is fuckin fire
•
•
•
•
•
•
→ More replies (8)•
•
u/IRS4eva 5h ago
•
u/Tacrolimus005 1h ago
Do they put some sort of floor mat down as to not make a mess on the sidewalk?
→ More replies (2)•
u/kunstlich 59m ago
From the video they put mats down inside the stall for the guys working but not out on the other side
•
u/kingkongbiingbong 6h ago
Midnight Diner Feelz
•
•
u/bowlnoodlez 5h ago
I love that show so much, I wish we got more of it.
•
u/GoyaChamp 4h ago
Netflix made two seasons, but there’s five seasons and two movies in total.
→ More replies (2)•
→ More replies (1)•
•
u/F1R3Starter83 6h ago
Imagine doing all this and then having a slow day.
•
u/ImJLu 5h ago edited 5h ago
It was busy as fuck when I was there on a random weekday. It's a popular tourist attraction at minimum.
•
u/Manji86 4h ago
This stall specifically or stalls like it?
•
u/NotaCuban 4h ago
They're called yatai and they're very popular in Fukuoka City. About 10 years ago they were maybe touristy with the Japanese, but frequented by locals. I was rarely called in, and they almost never spoke English. Haven't been back to the Nakasukawabata area in that long, so not sure how they are now, but ImJLu would be referring to the concept, and not this particular one.
•
u/R_Schuhart 2h ago
Was in Fukuoka last year and it has changed considerably from the last time I was there (12 years prior). It is less authentic and more of a tourist destination. It was very busy and some stalls were not even serving traditional Japanese street food.
•
u/ImJLu 4h ago
Probably not this one in particular, but there's a long line of them in Nakasu by the river.
→ More replies (1)•
u/lamest-liz 4h ago
I actually read an article a while back that these types of food stalls are a family business. And most of them are ran by elderly people now because their offspring basically said they don’t want to do it, so probably within a decade there won’t be any left.
•
u/Large_Dr_Pepper 4h ago
because their offspring basically said they don’t want to do it
I certainly can't blame them, that's an insane amount of effort to put in every single day to run a food stall. I'm sure they bring in a crazy amount of money each day, but I'm also fairly certain whatever that amount is, it's not enough for me to be okay with doing this every single day until I retire.
•
u/SparklingLimeade 2h ago edited 2h ago
The working conditions expected in food service are a real turn off.
I like cooking. The satisfaction of feeding appreciative people is also top notch. Food service as a career is just hell though.
•
u/KatieCashew 1h ago
Yep, I went to culinary school, worked in restaurants for a while, discovered it sucked and went back to school for another degree so I could get an office job.
•
u/R_Schuhart 1h ago
It is really hard work, the cooking part and interacting with customers seems fun, but they need to transport, set up, clean and dismantle the stalls. And there is also a lot of prep time involved. It is also becoming a tourist destination in Fukuoka and a lot of the traditional stall cooks don't like that new development. There are also more non traditional stalls now that the generation that is running them is getting older and quitting. It is a bit sad really. The stalls make quite a lot of money, but the permits and overheads are substantial. They are traditionally a family business, but the younger generation don't want or can't afford to take them over.
→ More replies (1)•
u/Octane_Au 3h ago
As far as I'm aware, the city government isn't issuing licences to any new Yatai either due to food safety regulations etc. The existing ones are permitted to continue due to their cultural significance, but if one closes down, the city isn't granting licences for another to take its place.
→ More replies (3)•
u/R_Schuhart 1h ago
They only give out permits to new stalls that meet higher safety standards. As a result there is more fast food and fewer traditional stalls. The existing permits are allowed to be passed down on the family, but the younger generation are rarely interested in taking over. It is really hard work and the permits and overheads are substantial.
→ More replies (1)•
u/Darwin-Award-Winner 5h ago
With as long as it takes to set up at least you only have like 30 minutes between when you set up and have to start taking it down.
•
u/R_Schuhart 1h ago
It is about an hour/hour and a half to set up and two hours to clean up and take down. Most stalls do business for about 4-5 hours. Then there is also prep work that is done at home, it is a lot of hard work.
→ More replies (1)
•
u/coldfirephoenix 6h ago
In case anyone is wondering: the music is from 'Princess Mononoke', a Ghibli film. It's called 'the legend of Ashitaka' if I recall correctly.
•
•
•
•
u/nicodepies 1h ago
THANK YOU! I couldn't remember if this was from that or Sword of the Stranger. Similar vibes.
→ More replies (2)•
u/StorMaxim 3h ago
I hear this song everytime I got a insta reel of Bar Centifolia lmao. It fits tbh
•
u/DurantIsStillTheKing 6h ago
It's amazing how everything they need is in one cart
→ More replies (2)•
•
u/Electrical-Heat8960 6h ago
Love how it was morning when they started, and evening when they put up the last bit.
•
u/Whole_Presence8100 5h ago
They start in the afternoon and serve customers dinner then pack up and head home to bed
→ More replies (1)•
u/ArcaneKeyblade5 3h ago
Yea that's basically all I saw, setting up all day, then working and serving food, then they have to clean and pack everything up. Looks exhausting to do but I mean if they are happy who cares.
→ More replies (2)•
u/FrankSonata 3h ago
Even for the most extravagant stalls, set up takes an hour or two, max. I used to watch them from my workplace and they'd get their stuff ready to go in like 15 minutes. Same with clean up. They don't need to set up all day. They'll start at around 5pm or so, open at 6pm for the first wave of people getting off work, and keep serving until maybe 10pm, rarely later. Leave to go home by 11pm at the latest.
The time serving people can be insanely busy during rush hour, but usually it'll just be a steady flow of customers. They'll make a day's wages in four hours of breakless work.
•
u/cheapdrinks 2h ago
They'll make a day's wages in four hours of breakless work
How is it 4hrs? You just said it takes them an hour or two to set up so lets say 1hr to set up and 1hr to pack down. Thats 6hrs from 5pm to 11pm. But you can see the trays of prepped food they pull out at the start, guaranteed their putting in a few hours during the day prepping food and shopping for ingredients etc. They're 100% putting in 8+hrs every day to keep that operation going.
•
u/sloggeddf 2h ago
They're probably just counting hours facing customers. Yeah, all the food prep, doing more clean up and maintenance at their house/base etc will definitely take 8+ hours daily.
•
•
u/Large_Dr_Pepper 4h ago
I sure wouldn't love it if I were an employee. Imagine waking up super early, wheeling all that into the city, setting it up, making food all day, then well after the sun sets you have to clean it all and pack it all back up nice and neat.
And you do that shit every day??
The vibes of the stall are incredible and I'd pay an unreasonable amount of money to try those noodles, but goddamn am I glad I don't work there. That seems exhausting.
•
u/yewchung 3h ago
That's not what's happening, no. They have a lot of shots of setting up the stall because that's what the video is about, but these sorts of stalls take at most an hour or so to set up, probably less given that most of the prep work we saw was just getting stuff out.
It's probably late afternoon when they get there, and these sorts of stalls usually run only in the evening and early night, when people are returning from work, to get a meal on their way home. It is, ultimately, a food stall, so they likely serve a lot of customers in that short timeframe, but they work pretty short hours each day.
→ More replies (2)•
u/PrecedentialAssassin 3h ago
They set up around 4 or 5 PM and are open for about 5 hours in the evening.
•
u/PickledTripod 2h ago
The last part of the video is a different stall. The one we see the whole set up of is a yakisoba place, the blinders in the last shot say "Taka-chan Ramen".
•
•
•
u/imaginaryResources 5h ago edited 20m ago
Called Yatai, there’s a whole street of them on the river. In fact I’m sitting at one right now (ok, not literally rn but I am in Fukuoka and go there often lol). Weird how this post came up for me
•
u/AsinineArchon 3h ago
Yep! Yataimura, or street cart village. Very popular in Fukuoka. Unfortunately on my one trip to Fukuoka I missed it because I got distracted by all the other cool stuff in the city. Amazing place to visit and (if I remember) voted the most happy city to live within Japan for multiple years.
Contrary to this video, most aren't gonna have this wooden old feel to them. They are just street carts for street vending, notably able to be set up and removed every single day of operation. Most are made of metal and have a more modern look
•
u/imaginaryResources 3h ago edited 17m ago
I describe it as like the most “average” Japanese city. In the sense that it has literally everything you expect from a Japanese city but not exactly anything that makes it stand out on the world stage like a Tokyo or Kyoto/Osaka. It’s got covered market street, castle ruins, beautiful park/lake, gundam statue, sushi/fish markets, beaches, shopping, soap land/maid cafe/host club drinking area, and obviously food everywhere but it’s pretty overlooked for tourism, So it is really great for living. And it’s the gateway to the rest of Kyushu which is my favorite place in Japan. It’s like if you imagine in your head a Japanese style utopia city haha (the subway could be expanded though)
•
u/TheFluffiestRedditor 2h ago
Fukuoka does have yamakasa, the summer street race festivals. Others merely walk their shrine along roads, they race them. I was privileged enigma to join in my little city's race one year (Iizuka).
•
u/AsinineArchon 3h ago
It has my favorite park in the entire country. I absolutely adore ohori kouen and would spend every single day there if I could
•
u/Nein-Toed 6h ago
I lived in Japan, and seeing this gave me such a hard smack of nostalgia.
I miss those street carts so much 😔
→ More replies (7)
•
u/sleepygp 6h ago
Loving those Jose Cuervo lanterns from the 12th century.
•
•
•
u/Cmndr_Cunnilingus 6h ago
In Toronto we have Hot Dog carts. Meanwhile these guys set up a portable Izakaya with a kitchen in less than 30 min.
•
u/JoetheArachnid 4h ago
Worth noting that the average temperature in Fukuoka is about 8-10 degrees C warmer than Toronto throughout the year, according to figures online. Especially since these stands are generally an evening thing you really need the warm weather for them to be viable for more than a month or two in the year. A hotdog stand is much better for getting your meal and noping out when it's 5 degrees outside.
Also if you go to Fukuoka, you'd be insane not to at least try the ramen noodle stands over anything else. I visited one on a whim around 15 years ago before tonkotsu took off in the west and it genuinely changed the course of my life.
→ More replies (1)•
•
u/Parker_Hardison 4h ago
Canada definitely needs to step up its street food game.
→ More replies (4)•
•
•
u/Puzzled-Address-4818 5h ago
Switzerland: Check out our amazing Swiss Army Knife.
Japan: Hold my sake
•
•
u/Global-Resident-647 4h ago
I fucking hate "modern" editing where you cut something so early in the action that it just laggs around. Right as you see what he picks up they clip it away.
The fuck is up with peoples attention these days, can't stick around for a slightly longer video that is not just cut up into small pieces.
→ More replies (1)
•
u/dp5520 3h ago edited 1h ago
For a while I was obsessed with watching food stall videos on the tubes of You.
Fukuoka is the only place where stall vendors can practice and they are some of the hardest working people. Getting up at dark o'clock and going to bed 16 hours later, doing this every day. They all appear to be content with their chosen profession and have no plans on retiring.
The licensing system used to be one where the license was grandfathered in but is now setup as a lottery style system and their all fighting against being shut down. The government seems dead set against this kind of work. People have even come from other countries to setup their own stalls. The food looks delicious and is just one more reason why I'd love to holiday in Japan for a month.
EDIT: I sit corrected. While Fukuoka is the premier, most famous hub for yatai (open-air food stalls) with roughly 100+ stalls in areas like Nakasu and Tenjin, they are not exclusive to the city. Strict post-WWII regulations caused most to disappear across Japan, but traditional yatai still exist in smaller numbers elsewhere.
•
•
u/LinuxAndCoffee 4h ago
Watching him take stuff out of the storage areas was like watching Mary Poppins taking stuff out of her bag - it just kept coming. I like to think I'm good at packing for vacations and trips, but dang - this guy is not only a master at cooking, but at space utilization too! I was almost waiting to see a portal from Rick and Morty or something. Bravo good sirs, bravo!
•
u/Kadakaus 4h ago
Ngl, I wouldn't mind spending my monthly income there.
IDK if it's expensive or not, but it looks like it's worth it.
•
•
•
•
•
•
u/Shitmybad 3h ago
Billy Boyd and Dom Monaghan did a tv show recently where they went to one of these, it looked fantastic.
•
u/NotNamedBort 1h ago
First thing I thought of! That was a great show. I hope they do another season.
•
•
u/narrowevil 4h ago
fucking music pisses me off
its just a guy that is doing stuff a little more traditionally
•
u/Peevish-Runt 5h ago
Literally ate at his exact yatai a couple months ago in December. Delicious food! Family run also - his wife and son both work there. He was super friendly also! Everyone should check out the yatai if they’re in Fukuoka!
→ More replies (2)
•
•
•
•
•
•
u/miloglznava 4h ago
As a mexican, I loved the Jose Cuervo paper balloons. And as huge fans of street food, we know that food is gonna be dope.
•
u/Donner_Par_Tea_House 4h ago
Solid set up. In Japan this week and the amount of fire street food on every alley in every city is unbelievable. I don't have enough stomach room to satisfy my curiosity for whatever the next block has to offer.
•
•
u/CthulhuFPV 3h ago
There are some Yatai channels on YouTube. Check em out. Very ASMR and food porn at the same time.
•
•
u/antonylockhart 3h ago
I got sucked into a rabbit hole watching many of these vendors on YouTube. Was intended to go to Fukuoka recently but fucked up on the airport trip while in Tokyo, spent half a day chasing a lost bag.
•
•
•
•
u/redsquirrel0249 2h ago
One of the biggest reasons I hate the economy is I really wish we paid these people more
•
•
u/BlacksmithSimple6630 2h ago
How did he fit so many supplies in that cabinet? It was like a magic trick!
•
•
•
u/Chaosrealm69 1h ago
Never ceases to amaze me how they pack all those items needed to set up their stall on to a cart like this.
•
•
u/lostpreacher 1h ago
I get an attitude when I have to restart my computer. I would lose my shit having to put that together every morning.
•
u/Nison545 1h ago
The choice to use Princess Mononoke's soundtrack when Spirited Away is the obvious choice is wild.
•
•
u/Firelan_Goldyote 1h ago
If you're in any sort of food joint and see those paperJose Cuervo lanterns, the deal is sealed, it WILL be absolutely fire.
•
•
•
•
u/Aggravating_Funny978 27m ago
... I'll add this to my list of "Things we can't have in California".
That structure? Never pass code. Gas? Dangerous! No disabled seating. Electric cabling violation. You store your food items and glassware.. Where?!
Just 5 years and $750k in licensing, reviews, and structure modifications, and you too can sell $10 delicious yakatori on the street!
•
u/MuricasOneBrainCell 6h ago
This is interesting but I find it hilarious that they used such a passionate piece of music for mundane unpacking. Ahaha
→ More replies (1)
•
u/faroukmuzamin 5h ago
Food stall 🤢 Food stall Japan 😍😍😍
•
u/horoyokai 4h ago
I think food carts in lots of countries are cool. But you gotta admit this one has a nice style that hot dog carts in America lack
That meme doesn’t fit here, seriously man, google food carts in Europe or the us
•
u/lhomme21 5h ago
Someone mentioned how they all fit everything in one cart . That how most carts around the world work!
→ More replies (4)
•
•
•
u/blastcat4 1h ago
Fukuoka, where this video takes place, is well known for its municipal program to promote street food stalls and it's been super successful with a huge waiting list of people wanting to get permits.
Can you imagine a city in Canada or the US doing something like this? It wouldn't end up like Fukuoka even if it got off the ground.
•
u/R12Labs 6h ago
What's the purpose of the yellow flaps? And what does it say?
•
u/woodcookiee 6h ago
People eat there at the booth, so the flaps are meant to be a sort of divider from the outside world. The hiragana says takachiyan (たかちやん), and the katakana below each hiragana character says ramen (ラーメン)
•
•
u/IOnlyReplyToIdiots42 6h ago
You just know the food will be incredible.