A circle of friends connected by goo touch! The “FIST BUMP” corner of the radio program “GRAND MARQUEE” features people who live and enjoy Tokyo in a relay format.
On October 10, wandering bartender Tetsushi Ono will appear. We asked him about how he became a bartender, his title of “wandering bartender,” and mainly about how he communicates when serving cocktails at his restaurant.
INDEX
What inspired me to become a bartender was Tom Cruise.
Celeina (MC): Let me start by introducing his profile. Tetsuji Ono is a wandering bartender from Oita Prefecture. He started bartending in his hometown of Oita, later standing in bars in Yokohama and Tokyo, and currently works as a bartender at the Chinese restaurant “Nanpu-ro” in Ginza. At the same time, he travels around Japan as an event bartender for liquor manufacturers and importers.
Takano (MC): You are a wandering bartender because you bartend at events.
Ono: That’s right. I think it would be more accurate to say that I was a wanderer.
Takano: But sometimes you still wander, don’t you?
Ono: Yes, that’s right.
Celeina:Because you were wandering at Naeba this year, too, weren’t you?
Takano:That’s right. We were next to each other at the “Fuji Rock” event. We greeted each other. Johnny’s highball was delicious.
Ono: Thank you very much.

Takano: You are dressed in your usual attire today, and the silk hat suits you well.
Ono:It’s not self-branding, but there are not many bartenders who wear hats, so I thought it would stand out.
Takano:But you really wore that outfit at Fuji Rock, didn’t you?
Ono:We wear silk hats every year at Fuji Rock, and then all the other bartenders started wearing hats as well.
Takano: You are creating a bit of a culture.
Celeina: The vests are nice, but they also have name tags. It says “TETSU-G.”
Ono: I’m allowed to use it like a bartender’s name like that.
Celeina:Then it is “TETSU-G” instead of Mr. Ono.
Takano: I would like to ask you many questions, but what made you want to become a bartender in the first place?
Ono:When I was in junior high school, I got hooked on Tom Cruise and watched a lot of movies. Among them, I fell in love with the movie “Cocktails,” in which Tom Cruise plays a bartender. Tom Cruise has been in many movies, but bartending was the job that I thought I had the best chance of being in. I don’t think I could be a pilot, either.
Takano: Spying is not an easy job to become, either.
Ono:Yes, that’s right. Bartenders were the closest to me.
Takano:They look cool, don’t they? When they make cocktails, they throw shakers from their backs.
Ono:Throwing the bottle and turning it. That was cool.
INDEX
The counter is a tool for communicating with people in a safe environment.
Takano:You are originally from Oita, so you had a bar in your hometown, didn’t you?
Ono:I trained as a bartender in Oita for almost 10 years, and when I was about 30 years old, I came to Yokohama to start.
Celeina:What was it that brought you to Tokyo?
Ono:I happened to be from Oita, and a mama who runs a club in Yokohama invited me and said, “If you come, I’ll make a bar for you”.
Celeina:That is an amazing coincidence.
Ono:I didn’t know them before they invited me, but I happened to meet them and they asked me if I wanted to try it, so I came out.
Takano:I think bartenders need a variety of skills. Of course, making drinks and communication skills are important, but what kind of training did you have?
Ono:A surprisingly large number of bartenders are shy.
Takano: Is that so?
Ono:I think so. At least I think so. I have the impression that a bar is like a tree that stops, a place where customers can feel at ease, and for bartenders, the counter is a place where they can communicate with people in peace.
Takano: In a space called a bar, the roles of the bartender and customers are sort of fixed, aren’t they?
Ono:I find it difficult to talk to people without a counter.
Takano: That’s interesting.
Celeina:You were a wandering bartender, so did you give yourself the name “wandering bartender”?
Ono:I started calling myself a “wandering bartender,” but actually there was a senior bartender who was more wandering than me, and after meeting him, I thought I was no match for him, so I dropped that name.
Celeina:Does that mean that your senior was more active?
Ono:That senior member was always there, no matter where we went. We were on the same team at Fuji Rock, but he was more active than me, so I thought I couldn’t win.
INDEX
Arranging cocktails to match Chinese food
Takano: So you are basically at “Nanpu-ro” now?
Ono: That’s right. It is a Chinese restaurant in Ginza, and there is a counter in the open kitchen, so I serve cocktails and wine to customers while bartending there.
Celeina:What kind of service do you provide there?
Ono:I serve the customers who come to the counter, suggesting cocktails to go with the food they are having, and also suggesting drinks to go with the food.
Takano: Do you think of a cocktail that would be good based on the flow of conversation?
Ono:Yes. If it is a new customer, I don’t know what they like, so I ask them what they usually drink and suggest a cocktail that would be good for them. If it is a Chinese dish, such as shrimp, I would focus on the shrimp and introduce a cocktail that would go well with it.
Takano: There is also the chemical reaction of flavors, isn’t there?
Ono:It’s like pairing.
Takano:By the way, what would you recommend to us today?
Celeina: We haven’t eaten anything yet (haha). As a radio navigator, do you have any cocktail recommendations?
Takano:I’d like to try one that will spark conversation, or at least raise the tension.
Ono:Johnny Walker Highball, I guess.
Takano: That’s a 100-point answer. But I am not a strong drinker. What do you do for people like that?
Ono:For example, it is very easy to make the same highball easier to drink by changing the balance, adding a little sweetness or acidity, and so on. So, for example, if you usually drink a weak highball, you can add a little lemon to it to make it easier to drink. We also often serve highballs with a slightly different cocktail to add flavor.
Takano: You have to go to “Nanpu-ro”. So, I’d like to talk more, but let’s interrupt for a song. I asked Tetsuji Ono to choose a song that he would like everyone to listen to together on the radio at this time.
Ono: “Don’t Worry Be Happy” by Bobby McFerrin. It was played in the movie “Cocktails,” and I chose it because I thought it would be perfect for the evening.
Takano: Thank you very much. Let’s listen to the song.