Restaurants 3: Tips 「レストラン３：チップ」

When I went to that sit-down restaurant with my father the other day, I looked at the bill and was suddenly faced with something I had forgotten about: tips.

Restaurants in Japan do not use tips.  Neither does any part of the service industry, for that matter.  You won't find anybody tipping bellhops or hairdressers or chartered bus drivers in Japan.

Wait; perhaps I'm being hasty: I once saw someone tell a taxi driver to keep the change.

In general, however, good service in Japan is expected.  Tipping your server is actually perceived as an insult, something that I was unfortunate to discover on my first trip to a restaurant in Japan.  You see, tipping the waiter for good service in Japan implies that you were surprised with the quality of the service—that is to say, you weren't expecting to be treated well when you walked in the door.  It also cheapens the service by suggesting that the waitperson only worked so hard because he or she was hoping for a good tip.  Think about it: have you ever been treated exceptionally well by a waitperson or a taxi driver, and thought, "Wow, that person must really want a good tip."?  I'm willing to bet that you have.

Well, consider this: The best waitservice that I've encountered in the United States pales in comparison to some of the service that I saw in Japan.  There, good service is a matter of course.

Does that mean that I think that tips should be abolished in the States?  Not necessarily.  I've worked in the service industry before (as a theatre usher), and I know how demanding—and rude—some customers can be.

"I'm sorry, sir, but drinks are not allowed inside the theatre" seem to be fighting words for some people.  It's amazing the lengths some people will go to in an effort to take their diet cola inside a theatre, only to spill it on the hundred-year-old seats and have it run off the mezzanine onto the head of some poor customer below.  And, yes, that really happened.

What does that have to do with tips?  Well, I didn't get tips for that job, and I didn't need them, because I was paid well by the theatre.  Restaurant waitstaff is not.  Many employers count tips as part of the wage in the service industry, and reduce their own contributions accordingly.  When I compare the wages that I saw advertised in Japan to what people get in most of the United States, I understand why people in Japan don't need tips.  Which brings to mind another question: do you think that perhaps waitpersons in Japan are so courteous because they're paid decently?

Restaurants 2: Portions 「レストラン２：量」

My father and I went to a Chinese restaurant the other day.  It was my first time at a sit-down restaurant in quite some time.  We took our seats, ordered our food, and then the meal came.

I stared at the plate in front of me.

"I only ordered a single portion," I said automatically.

"That's what I gave you," came the response from the waiter.

I couldn't believe my eyes.  The plate was heaped with food.  The pile of meat and vegetables was nearly invisible beneath the mountain of rice, which was topped off by several precariously-balanced pieces of crab rangoon.  It could easily have passed as a plate for three at a Japanese restaurant.  Did seven dollars really go so far?

Now, I am capable of eating quite a lot, and so I finished my plate, but I did not have of an appetite for the rest of that evening (or the following morning, for that matter).  I have heard a lot about the monstrous appetizers at some restaurants that give you 2,000 Calories before the main course even comes.  Reading about something and seeing it for yourself, however, are two different things.  I wonder if restaurants will let me order a single meal and split it with three people from now on?

I should add, by the way, that even the biggest meals in Japanese restaurants rarely top 1,000 Calories.  Where do Japanese restaurants fall down, then? Sodium.  Most menus in Japan now list Calories, fat, and sodium for each of their offerings.  I was horrified on more than one occasion to open up a menu and see offerings that were made with 4.5 grams of salt for a single serving.  It just goes to show you: you have to be careful of what you eat, no matter where you live.

Oh, and no, my insistent capitalization of the word "Calorie" is not an error: it's the teacher in me.  One Calorie, with a capital "C", equals 1,000 calories, with a lower-case "c".  If you were to live on a 2,000-calorie diet, you'd die of starvation rather quickly, because the energy in our food, as labeled in the nutrition information, is counted in Calories, not calories.
Japan avoids this confusion altogether by listing the energy in its foods in terms of "kcal", or kilocalories, which is a much less confusing way to count Calories; don't you agree?

Restaurants 1: Tobacco 「レストラン１：タバコ」

I must say, it is very nice to walk into a restaurant and not be asked the question, "Smoking or non?"  While it is now a given that one can walk into any restaurant or bar in Massachusetts and eat in a smoke-free environment, that is not the case at all in Japan.  There is a very slow trend toward smoke-free food, but most restaurants still offer only very small no-smoking sections, often with tables directly abutting the smoking sections.  On top of that, bars don't offer smoke-free seating at all!  It kills me to see little kids eating amid clouds of cigarette smoke.

Japan has started a nominal anti-smoking movement, but it is halfhearted at best, consisting primarily of stick figures and generalized captions about how smoking is inconvenient to other people.  No.  Talking in the library is inconvenient to other people.  Smoking is DANGEROUS to other people.  With all due respect to you smokers out there, moving to a state with strict tobacco laws is one bit of culture shock that I'll happily accept.