Local News

One year has passed since Fukuoka City passed the Yatai Ordinance. The City says the new law has helped improve yatai etiquette, but out of 124 yatai, 31 cases of “name lending” have been found. Name lending, or running stalls under other people’s names, was banned under the Yatai Ordinance, but the operators have a three-year grace period until their licenses are revoked. One operator, who purchased the name rights to a stall 20 years ago for ¥14 million, said he used to charge ¥100,000/month rent to let another person use his stall, but since this practice was banned with the Ordinance, he is no longer allowed to charge rent and must stop by the stall every day to prove that he is, in fact, the legal operator, even though he has left the actual cooking and dishwashing to his protege. The 31 offending stalls will lose their licenses in 2017, after which time the City is considering auctioning them off. Some yatai operators are wary of big ramen chains buying up licenses and weakening “yatai tradition”. Source: Nishinippon Shimbun 8/31