Social Care at Japanese Snack Bars

Snack bar is a special statutory place, where a female attendant (usually there is a female owner called “mama” by customer) is allowed to entertain the customer solely by talking and drinking together. Physical contacts being not permitted, all kinds of talking strategies, including wide range of topics from politics to intimate affairs, are employed to allow the customer feel at home or healed after the day’s hard work.

Most of the customer is married and belong to companies. They go to Japanese snack bar to see “mama” and after talking and drinking (sometimes singing Karaoke), they feel better than before. It’s possible to say “mama” does mental care for Japanese men who needs some kind of care, not physical but mental. So that “mama” has great skills of talking strategies that Japanese men want women to do.

It might be said that Japanese men is not satisfied with communications with their wives or women who is coworkers. “Mama” and this kind of place playing the role of mental care (easier than  going to hospital) is necessary in Japanese society and should be positioned one of the social place with guarantee as same as other companies.