Thursday, 10 January 2019

FUKUOKA: Yatai 屋台

Fukuoka is very popular for Yatasi. And I think it's citizens are really proud of them because when we were in the taxi from the airport to the hotel on the first day, our taxi driver kept telling us how we have to go to Yatais and marked out areas on the map where yatais are located at for us i.e along Tenjin, Nakasu, and Nagahama 

What is a Yatai ?
A Yatai is a small, mobile food stall ( food cart) selling typically ramen or other small food i.e yakitori set up in the early evening around 5pm on pedestrain walkways and removed around 2am latest in the morning. 

After having our satisfying meal at Ichiran Main store ( read post here), we decided to take a walk down Tenjin ( a district of fukuoka) because with the amount of food we are eating, we REALLY need to increase our exercise count to keep the weight gain minimal 








I was telling Nicholas after we ended our meal " Sigh, this yatai business seems like it's a very hard life.. It's really hard earned money. I wonder if they make much at all" 
Then I realised... Holycow, They would actually be making quite abit. I mean, it's such low overhead costs for Yatai. It's essentially a push cart, so no rent. Or rather minimal rent because perhaps they need to pay for yatai license ?  Some yatai owners are the chef themselves ( one man show = 100% profit goes to him) or at most they hire another assistant. 
The food price to be honest... is not VERY cheap, it's just slightly cheaper than a restaurant. 
Let's say they make a profit of 100bucks a night, in a month that will be.. 3000? BUT, they definitely make more than 100bucks a night just looking at how busy they are ( some yatai need to queue one ok !) 

Sigh, this is an example of professions that you think are hard work and make little, but they actually make alot! On the contrary, people like to think that doctors like myself make alot, however mine is HARD WORK and for the amount of pay I get for the time and effort i put in ... It is really not worth it. By the way... It's not like I'm getting paid heaps as well zzzzzz

Anyway, back to Yatai... A highly recommended experience if you're ever in fukuoka !

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