Tofugu - Latest Comments in Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

sarinasal95 — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 02:40:26 -0000

i just got back from japan from a visit with my family! all of this is totally true! another thing i noticed was the napkins. they are also veryyyyyy small i ended up using like 2 napkins for one meal!

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Mickey Mouse — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 07:48:53 -0000

osusume works very well

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Shinminori — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 02:48:02 -0000

Nice article.

Hello guys, just want to share with you a restaurant also that i used to eat always for their delicious and good Japanese food and buffet.. for more details just click this site: http://www.shinminori.com.sg/">Japanese Restaurant

Thanks! ^_^

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Jul25gir — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 21:06:27 -0000

This was such an informative article! If I ever go to Japan I would be nervous ordering a waiter or waitress over! Its a good thing that I dont drink ALOT of water, but a good amount. Hope for more articles! :)

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

VXLbeast — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 22:04:40 -0000

I drink like crazy during a meal as well. 4-5 glasses of whatever I happen to be drinking, at least.
That "No Gaijin" thing is worrisome. It doesn't bother me that someone doesn't like me, but I at least want to be given a chance...

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Shini — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:19:43 -0000

I personally drink a lot as well and enjoy a constant refill from the waiters; however, I usually top off roughly 5-8 glasses of lemonade or water what ever I am drinking. I am right on the bandwagon of no tipping in fact I don't tip already in America I will pay the bill but tipping is usually up to everyone else.

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Nina — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 23:09:09 -0000

Great post! I myself liked the no tipping thing...very convenient and you still get great service anyway! I remember when i was at this restaurant, they gave me sauce that had wasabi in it. I'm not a big fan of wasabi so I was trying to discreetly scoop it out and move it to the side. A waitress came by and gave me a fresh plate of wasabi-free sauce. Very attentive service!

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

TwoBlue — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 02:02:25 -0000

ahh like Jonathan's! ♥ the lil "ding-dong" buttons. america needs those.

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Designer handbags — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 02:01:43 -0000

wat is " no gaijin"?

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

bimbim18 — Sat, 15 May 2010 20:15:49 -0000

Lol that's similar to my experience in Korea. I had a Korean Girlfriend and went one day with her to visit her mom & pops' restaurant WAY out from the areas normally travelled by americans / GI's. Being half Korean and having longer hair as long as I kept a hat on and kept my mouth shut I was fine, Until he asked me something from across the restaurant. I replied but I guess my American accent gave me away. At that point literally the entire restraunt of about 80 people stopped eating and stared at me for about 20 seconds.. talk about uneasy feelings. At that point my girlfriend said it would be best if I waited outside and we went elsewhere. Some places I went to shop once I asked for prices I was given differrent pricing once they saw I was American or straight up asked to leave.

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Kanoe — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 00:52:00 -0000

I the same trouble when I was in London. I was there during the summer and would get so thirsty. Then the waiter/ waitress would come with like a glorified shot glass of water. I think Americans are thirstier than other people. LOL

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

sophiexsuicide — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 10:37:38 -0000

Ahh;
i JUST moved to Okinawa Japan,
and everything you wrote made me laugh!!
Its so true!!
I tried leaving a tip at this really cool place called "dragon"
but apparently its "rude" ;/ haha i felt bad though,
& the thing with the cups!! haha,
i got up to refill mine like three times and everyone just looked at me!!
even though it was self-serve hahaha, i was like Wtf.
now i just gotta work on my japanese,
but everyones really nice about my chopped up japanese ;/
hahaha i always get "hai, hai.. awww kawaii!!"
and im like "uhh... ganbatte?! honto?! idk what im saying, what are you saying?! nani?!"
hahaha it sucks. ;/

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Name — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 22:18:18 -0000

How do you ask for your water in a beer mug in Japanese?

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Lenamarie — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 14:35:21 -0000

ahh like Jonathan's! ♥ the lil "ding-dong" buttons. america needs those.

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Lenamarie — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 14:33:41 -0000

from what i understand those "no gaijin" signs apply to those that look westerner. i hear those that are ethnically non-japanese but born/raised in japan, are thrown in the "no gaijin" pile. so overall like someone stated if u look asian and speak japanese you can slide by. which you know to the western world that is totally called racism, but yea~ i wouldnt wanna eat somewhere that would dare throw up a sign like that.

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Jeremy Keith — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 15:53:10 -0000

You took the photograph from here:
http://www.flickr.com/photo...

The license is on the same page.

By using this photo, you agree to this license:
http://creativecommons.org/...

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

koichi — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 00:30:37 -0000

You wouldn't happen to have that link, would you?

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Jeremy Keith — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 10:28:46 -0000

You need to comply with terms of the license for the picture you are using. The picture is licensed under a Creative Commons attribution license: you must give attribution to the person who took the picture.

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Random — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:01:22 -0000

My thoughts while reading:

"If you are eating with people that aren’t really close friends or family, then yes, it’s important you turn your chopsticks around to grab the food."
ME: Crap I don't know how to use chopsticks...

"If you don’t know how to use chopsticks, then you should probably turn your fork around"
ME: That sounds hard. Maybe I should just try the chopsticks..

"and look like the idiot you are for going to Japan without learning how to use chopsticks beforehand."
ME: /Dies]

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

shukumei — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:35:31 -0000

ha ha. i went on a student exchange program to japan as well. ^_^
i had no idea about the chopstick flipping thing or the tipping, so thanks for those tidbits. before i went, i did a lot of research on customs. now i'm learning the language. =__= oy.
have any suggestions on memorizing kanji???? x____x i can recognize what some of them say, but i cannot write them from memory.

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

daifuku — Sat, 30 May 2009 01:57:01 -0000

I'm loving this site! YAY! Hawaii IS as Japanese as America gets, that's why I want to go there(I have other reasons as well). I don't think I'll ever get the chance to visit Japan, but it seems like a nice place. I didn't know they didn't tip-I decpise tipping-In my Country we don't tip either. Thanks for your informative posts.:)

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

SEO — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:57:29 -0000

Everyone has his/her own opinion, perception regarding different matters.. Every country has its own culture and they represent themselves accordingly... Someone want waiter to come and ask for their order while dinning and other doesn't want this... So this doesn't mean that we ll change our ways and wont go and visit there just because we don't like their ways of presenting themselves... Do go all those places you are getting chances for and try to find out the things that you like among them instead of criticizing them always..

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Adam F — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 23:43:54 -0000

Exactly. Often when an establishment encounters a few rowdy or ignorant or drunk foreigners they decide to ban foreigners from the business. I can understand that since there are very few foreigners in Japan. Those people that make such an impression make all gaijin look bad to many Japanese.

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Parker2038 — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 08:47:18 -0000

Why do you drink water when you can have sake? every time I go to a Japanese restaurant I have a portion of sake just for me... Eh Eh Eh... (Don't get yourselves drunk...)
I live in Portugal, here Japanese food are a bit expensive but it totally wort it...

-- I LOVE JAPAN! --
-- Parker2038 --

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Hogawa — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 08:29:06 -0000

If you look asian and you speak Japanese they will let you in. But i never found anything special about them. They have women only bars in Japan I couldnt get in one of those. some body fill me in on that. But i really dont care maybe for the femms that visit this website.