All good things must come to an end. And that includes Japan’s first-ever Saizeriya location. While the location has been kept running as a museum, plans for new development have doomed it to obsoletion.
If you don’t know Saizeriya, I strongly suggest trying it at least once while visiting or living in Japan. Some people won’t touch the chain with a 10-foot pole. For many, however, the faux Italian restaurant is a lifesaver.
Saizeriya serves what’s best described as “Italian tapas” or “Italian izakaya.” Most of its small plates sell between 180 yen (USD $1.14) and 400 yen ($2.54). Not to be outdone by Trader Joe’s in the United States, it also offers bargain-basement wine prices: you can get a 120mL glass for 91 yen ($0.58) and a 1500mL bottle for 1,000 yen ($6.33).
The chain has an interesting history, starting as a “Western food” (yoshoku) restaurant in 1967 until that burned down. It re-opened as an Italian food – or, at least, the Japanese interpretation of Italian food – joint in 1973 with its new first location in Ichikawa City, Chiba Prefecture, near Motoyawata Station. Saizeriya now has over 1,500 stores – 1,069 in Japan, 474 abroad.
Saizeriya closed the location in Chiba in 2000. However, Saezeriya head Masagaki Yasuhiro was dedicated to keeping it open in some form. So the chain kept it open as an educational museum, making zero changes except installing a Washlet toilet. (I mean, who can blame them?)
However, the location is now slated to disappear in 2027 as developers want to tear down the area and build something new. A post about the closure on X was liked over 56K times and generated a slew of comments from people who’re sad to see this piece of history fade away.
Oyama Tatsuo, who heads the preservation committee for the first store, says there are calls to replace it with another educational museum but no concrete plans. In the meantime, he encourages people to visit while they still can.
Location: 2 Chome-6-5 Yawata, Ichikawa, Chiba 272-0021
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