Mashu Ohashi: The Best 1,000 Yen in Ameyoko History

2020/01/10

Fifteen years ago, at the end of the year, I was working part-time at a fresh fish shop in Ameyoko. At the time, I was majoring in cultural anthropology in graduate school at another university after graduating from the Juku Faculty of Letters.

I was shocked by the performance of the vendors shouting from beer-crate podiums during the year-end sales, and the strange space where goods and money literally flew back and forth. What was intended to be "fieldwork" for my master's thesis turned into a full-time job as a player in that world just one year later.

Ameyoko, which used to be a "market" overflowing with shoppers, has now become a "town" for tourism with an exotic atmosphere. After working there for six years, I resigned. While working in the food and beverage industry and thinking about starting my own business, I returned to Ameyoko in 2013 and opened "Uokusa" with the concept of a "fish market where you can drink" that could also attract tourists.

Diverse people passing by on the street mingle for a brief moment and then scatter again. I continue to operate every day hoping it becomes such a "gathering place."

Because Ameyoko is all about "1,000 yen, 1,000 yen, only 1,000 yen right now!!", I created several sets of "[Food] + Sake = 1,000 yen" using the catchphrase "The Best 1,000 Yen in Ameyoko History." Since it is a fish market, the snacks served with the sake are, of course, only fish.

But in reality, all the customers are drinking sake and proactively enjoying the space, using the chance encounters in the packed, narrow shop and the "hustle and bustle of the street itself" as their side dish.

Then, I thought, perhaps what I serve with the sake doesn't have to be food? Now, in addition to menus like "Assorted Sashimi + Sake" and "Raw Oysters + Sake," I have also started offering "Music + Sake."

I commissioned a senior who is now active as an artist—someone I devoted myself to theater with during our time at SFC High School—to create a "listening" art piece as a device to experience this "gathering place" more deeply while drinking. Customers who order it enjoy that "inedible" work along with their sake. It is a system where a fee is paid to the artist every time an order is placed.

My trial and error continues as I strive for new and interesting challenges that only a small independent shop can do. However, I am still no match for my seniors in the "anything goes" Ameyoko, who sell school backpacks right next to fish or continue "closing down sales" for 20 years.