Comments by "Tracy S" (@tracys169) on "The Japan Reporter"
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I'm not surprised the tourists didn't leave tips, as you probably already know they don't do tips in Japan. They even consider it rather an 'insult' if you tip in Japan...although if it's in a tourist group, I think tourist guide should tell them it's mandatory. Not customary. And some restaurants, imo, should just put mandatory tip of 20% to begin with esp. if there are more than 6 people in the group. Where I came from, the same as Japan..no tipping whatsoever and when I learned English, we didn't even get taught about the norm of tipping so I'm sure I was probably annoying a lot of waiters/waitresses in the first 3-6 months of living in US. When I first realized the custom (some local friends clued me in when she took me out eating), I felt very awkward, as it was foreign concept. I remember thinking how do I tip them? Where do I put the tip, etc, do I have to hunt down the waiters/waitresses that took care of me, what if there are 2 different waiters? Do I insult them when I just hand them the cash (tip)? Do they prefer cash or just add the tip in the card? Etc. I started to tip, at first only 10% (b/c I thought, again, my local friends suggested to do that to me). Now I've been here for more than 2 decades, I've even worked as a waitress once then have a bff who is one currently, I know more about how much they're getting paid and how important it is to tip them....I start at 20% tip every time, even when the service was not exactly 'good.'
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