Are Kids Allowed in Restaurants in Japan? "It's Not Crying Kids We're Angry At": Japanese Diners on the No-Undisciplined-Kids Sign

What Japanese people said — picked from the top 200 of 3,358 comments

• There are more truly awful people among the parents who don't discipline than among the undisciplined kids themselves, so I get where the shop is coming from.

  躾のできていない子供自体よりも、躾をしていない親にヤバいやつが多いから、店側の意見は分かる

  — @赤の祓魔師4,249 likes

• It doesn't say "no kids", it says no kids "with no discipline at all", and that alone lets you imagine what the shop has been through.

  子供お断り、ではなく「躾の全くできていない」子供お断りな時点でお店側の苦労が想像できるよね

  — @yr9007919 likes

• I work part-time at a restaurant, and honestly, I don't want kids who are really loud and whose parents don't tell them off.

  飲食店でバイトしてるけど、あんまりにも騒がしくて親が注意しないタイプの子供は正直来て欲しくない。

  — @ゆにぴっぴ1,334 likes

• If you read the original post, the point was that "no discipline" is the owner's judgment, so however well you've raised your kids, the owner might still say no, and that makes it hard to go in. I don't think you can call that black-and-white thinking.

  元ネタ読むと『躾ができてない』というのは店主の主観だから、こっちがどんなに躾けていても店主がダメと言われる可能性があるから入りづらいとか言ってたから ゼロ百理論とは言えないと思う

  — @ぬまたつよし-r2s3 likes

• A baby crying and a kid making a racket are different things, I think.

  赤子が泣くのと子供が騒ぐのは違うと思う。

  — @キングムテ-n5l110 likes

• The problem is parents who leave their kids to make a racket. Parents who were never "disciplined" themselves can hardly discipline their own kids... lol On the other hand, when a kid is crying and the parent is desperately trying to quiet them down, I end up thinking "a little noise is fine" and "raising kids is tough, hang in there."

  騒ぐ子供を放置している親が問題。 「躾がされてない親」が我が子に躾が出来る筈もなく…w 逆に、子供が泣いていて、必死に静かにさせようと頑張る親には 「少々大丈夫だよ～」「子育て大変だけど頑張れ～」 と思ってしまう。

  — @miyo-ny149150 likes

• It's up to the shop. Nobody ever said crying was bad. Bad discipline means running around, making a racket, putting their mouth on the soy sauce spout and drinking from it, the kind of behavior anyone would call a nuisance, surely?

  お店の自由です。 そもそも泣くのが悪いなんて一言も言ってない。 躾が悪いっていうのは、走り回ったり騒いだり、醤油口に口付けて飲んだり、一般的に迷惑だよねって行為を指してるんじゃないでしょうか？

  — @ポケカ兄さん287 likes

• I run a restaurant. At my place, I go over and say something to kids who make noise or move around. Especially to the parents! After three warnings they nearly always leave. My place doesn't target kids or families, so I think that's fine. We're aiming to be an izakaya for grown-ups! I think it's fine for each place to have its own rules. Customers choose restaurants, but restaurants choose customers too.

  飲食自営業者です。 当店はお店で騒ぐ　動き回る子には注意しに行きます。 特に親に！ 三度注意すればほぼ帰ります。 当店は子供　ファミリー層をターゲットにしていないので　これでいいと思っています。 大人の居酒屋目指してますので！ お店によって色々な規則あっていいと思います。 お客様もお店を選びますが　 お店もお客様選びます

  — @あむちん-g1j795 likes

• I work at a restaurant in America, and at good restaurants you'll just be told "Please leave." Everyone comes to enjoy their dinner, so people go to the trouble of leaving the kids with a babysitter. Even at fast food places, I've had customers complain to me when a kid was wandering around. Isn't it the same anywhere in the world?

  アメリカの飲食店で働いてますが、良いレストランではふつうに「出て行ってください」と言われます。 みんな、ディナーを楽しみに来るので、わざわざ子供はベビーシッターに預けてくる感じです。 ファストフードでも、子供がうろうろしてると、お客さんから注意されたことがあります。 世界中、どこでも変わらないのでは？

  — @kanan-akari1,047 likes

• They're not turning away "every family with kids". If this sign sets you off, that tells you what kind of parent you are.

  「子連れ全員」を断ってるわけではないのにな。 この張り紙に反応してる時点でどういう親かお察しだよ。

  — @JYOっぴん582 likes

• I grew up in a time before conveyor-belt sushi and before family restaurants existed, and I was raised being told: whatever the restaurant, don't make noise where people eat! Don't do anything that bothers other customers! And my son grew up to be the kid who, at a restaurant, beamed at the strange man sitting next to us, said "Here you go ♡", and presented him with our bill lol The men laughed awkwardly too, "That's a hard one to say thank you for~" I just kept apologizing over and over Even now, thinking back, I can't tell if it's sweet or embarrassing...

  回転寿司というものがこの世になかった時代、ファミレスというものがなかった時代に私は育ったんだけど、どんな飲食店だろうと食事の場で騒ぐな！他のお客さんに迷惑になるような行動をするな！と躾けられた そんな私の息子は、飲食店で隣りに座ってた知らないおじさんに「どーじょ♡」と満面の笑みを浮かべて自分達の伝票をプレゼントする子に育ってしまった笑 おじさんたちも「ありがとう…とは言いにくいなぁ～」と苦笑してた 私はひたすら謝り倒してたわ 今思い出しても微笑ましいやら恥ずかしいやら…

  — @まゆゆ04241 likes

• No running around, no shouting, no playing with food. That's the level of discipline the owner is talking about. Pick a place with a kids' area.

  走り回らない、叫ばない、食べ物で遊ばない その程度の躾の事を店主は 言ってるんだろう キッズスペースある店選べよ

  — @バブリシャスガム233 likes

• Can't they even sit quietly and eat? Just ordering the kids' drink bar and letting them sip away slowly makes a big difference, I think. And if they get bored, you can keep them busy with a toy or something. There's plenty you can do.

  大人しく座ってご飯食べることもできないのか？ 子供用のドリンクバーを頼んでちびちび飲んでもらうだけでも効果は大きいと思う 飽きちゃったらおもちゃか何かで気を引くことはできるし 色々対策はあるよなあ

  — @YY-rq6xp1 likes

Are children allowed in restaurants in Japan?

Yes, in most restaurants. Some small shops post their own rules, and Japanese commenters broadly back a shop's right to pick its customers (1,855 likes for "I think shops can choose their customers too"). Family restaurants and places with a kids' area are the easy choice, while an izakaya aimed at grown-ups may not want young children at all.

Do Japanese people mind crying babies in restaurants?

Mostly no. The line Japanese commenters draw is between a baby crying and a child running wild. "I don't think crying means a kid isn't disciplined," one reply says (166 likes). What irritates other diners is a parent who does nothing, and one commenter (50 likes) says a parent desperately trying to calm a crying child makes them think "hang in there" instead.

Why do some Japanese restaurants turn away small children?

Safety and the other diners. Staff carry hot dishes through tight spaces, and one commenter (11 likes) worries that a child running into a server could mean dropped food or a burn. Another (50 likes) describes a parent who looked away while their child spilled hot udon and got burned, then blamed the shop's safety measures.

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