why the "Japanese only" shops?

The key to the sign here is that they do welcome non Japanese customers if they come with Japanese friends.

They also prohibit people that look like they belong to Japanese gangs or extremely drunk people.

Most likely they run a business that requires people to be able to listen to the directions or restriction, so they just require someone that can understand Japanese.

I looked the place up and it doesn't give me much information other than the location of it, but from the name of it, it can be a strip club or something similar to that. So you can understand they want to avoid any conflict, especially physical conflict that is caused by misunderstanding which can be avoided if you spoke the language.

You will mostly see that kind of thing in "adult" businesses. A lot of times foreigners don t speak Japanese well and don t understand customs and practices well. They get in trouble in hostess bars, bath and massage places, and pink salons. This is especially true about soldiers. It s not being anti American. Stop and remember, a lot of these are 19 or 20 years old, no education, no world experience and away from home the first time. Just like young kids in a college town they can make a lot of trouble, even worse when they cant speak the language, but they are trained to fight.

Japanese Only

Because your underdeveloped foreign brain couldn't handle what's inside that building.

Also, because in the past foreigners have caused hardships for the businesses by either complaining about specific things back in their home countries or on the internet (i.e. porn or sex shops they disagree with which ends causing a huge backlash) or by doing actual physical damage to property.

Honestly though, most of these places will let you in if you talk to the workers for a minute or two in Japanese. If you can't, then you're out of luck.

Yes it is Domo or Arigatou or Domo Arigatou as said above, it is not with the Doumo, that much I know too. I study martial arts also and we use Japanese in the class only I am not a teacher I am still a student and this is how my Japanese Sensei taught us. I can't write out the kanji on my keyboard.

Because sadly there are still many Japanese people who are racist, especially in the older generation (far less so with younger people) and that kind of behavior is not prohibited in Japan.

Racism takes a very different form in Japan. It's very seldom direct or aggressive. What you usually experience is this kind of cold exclusion. Often, Japanese people won't sit next to me on the subway, opting instead to stand for 20 minutes. Shop assistants look terrified when I walk in, assuming I can't speak any Japanese. And yes, there are many places where non-Japanese people are not allowed.

However, it should be stressed that this is not true of all Japanese people by a long way. Many are friendly to foreigners, and are interested in foreign cultures. I have some great Japanese friends. Many restaurant owners go to great efforts to try to provide English menus etc (even if the translation is rather poor!)

But, the old-style xenophobia is still very much present, especially when you leave the more cosmopolitan areas. Hopefully, as time passes, the younger generation's more open attitude to foreigners will become the norm.

It isn't illegal in Japan to prohibit those nasty, smelly, dishonest foreigners from shopping or eating in restaurants. In Japan, it is very difficult for white people to rent an apartment anywhere. It is absolutely impossible unless you have a Japanese who will co sign with you and to find a Japanese to cosign is sometimes difficult.

White people need to live in Japan for a while, see how Japanese refuse to admit they discriminate and see the difficulty in getting things done in Japan so that they can better understand when they themselves do it to "immigrants" here...and we do it covertly here too.

White people have to room to complain when life becomes difficult because they are "foreigners". Treating other people as you would like to be treated should be a learned behavior. So sad that it is not.

Too bad that we have not evolved beyond xenophobia.

That refers to American army men who get drunk and cause too many troubles in Japan. They think all the women are whores everywhere they go, and more so in Japan.

Before they do racism, make sure that they know how to spell "FOREIGN" not foriegn lol noob japanese even in their own language its very hard to study japanese **** you nihongo

It's not racist, per say. It was mainly started to avoid problems.Many people who visit Japan don't know how to behave themselves. A lot of the problems have been caused by American military men who drink too much and get stupid.Start fights, ect.I can see their point.