4 ms·

Yep, I live in Japan now and it's like heaven going out to eat here. No tips, no annoying servers constantly interrupting my meal, the full price is shown righ

Yep, I live in Japan now and it's like heaven going out to eat here. No tips, no annoying servers constantly interrupting my meal, the full price is shown right on the menu, the payment process is easy and fast and doesn't depend on the server or involve someone taking my card away so they can photograph the card number and use it for fraud, I could go on and on. I wish I never had to go back to the States.

usui 4y ago
Precisely!! And unlike 10 years ago, credit card usage increased within the past few years, so that eliminated one of the few remaining complaints I had about carrying lots of cash/coins. Most establishments accept all common cards now, so going out and living in general has become smooth all around.
seanmcdirmid 4y ago
Tap to pay is common in the states, even at many sit down places, and is ubiquitous at fast food or more casual places.
- midoridensha 4y ago
  I've never seen it at sit-down restaurants, and I'm not sure how they'd even do it, since frequently the cash register is someplace where customers can't even go. With fast-food, it's easy of course, since you have to stop at the cash register to pay, so the tap reader is right there. In Japan, it's the same as American fast food (even at sit-down restaurants): you have to go to the register to pay, usually next to the door. In Europe, however, my experience has been that most restaurants have a portable payment terminal they bring to the table for you.
  - seanmcdirmid 4y ago
    Strange. Almost all sit-down restaurants here have a portable POS (like you describe for Europe), they just bring it to your table and you can either chip or tap. A lot of Chinese restaurants use QR menus instead, you can pay by your table number at the website it opens. At fast food restaurants, you just pay at the terminal you ordered your food at. At places that don't have that, like Dick's, you just pay at the terminal they have at the register. The non-chain places usually have Stripe or Square, they all support tap or chip. I can't remember the last time I gave my card to someone.
    - midoridensha 4y ago
      Weird, I've never seen this stuff in the US, this is entirely different from my experience. But I left the US a long, long time ago, so maybe things have changed. I haven't been back since 2022.
      - seanmcdirmid 4y ago
        It might also be regional. The USA is large, and Seattle is very different from Miami. It was definitely like that in 2022 here, and I haven't carried cash in my wallet since I returned from china in 2016 (where, ironically, I had to use cash for everything because you needed a Chinese ID card to use WePay).
petodo 4y ago
Can you bring your own drinks to restaurant as in China? Of course also no tipping in China. Here in Europe you can get by without tipping quite easily, but I don't think they would allow you to bring your own drinks and honestly it also doesn't make sense. Why can't I drink my own drink, am I not paying enough for the meal itself that you need to rob me on drinks? Might as well not going to your place at all and eat at home, if you have problem with my own drinks.
- midoridensha 4y ago
  No, I don't think you can bring your own drinks typically in Japan. I've never seen it. I haven't tried though. However, unlike Europe, water is free and even though it's tap water, it's really good (Tokyo has excellent municipal water quality). European restaurants are terrible that way; they want to sell you ridiculously expensive bottled water that costs more than alcohol. You can "get by without" tipping in Europe, but in some places (like Budapest) they try to guilt tourists into tipping the same way it's done in America with a place on the credit card slip while the server is watching, because they know American tourists are used to tipping a lot. Other places have a place to add a tip too. Japan is different: there is absolutely no tipping, whatsoever. It's not even allowed; they will return your money to you.

usui 4y ago

Precisely!! And unlike 10 years ago, credit card usage increased within the past few years, so that eliminated one of the few remaining complaints I had about carrying lots of cash/coins. Most establishments accept all common cards now, so going out and living in general has become smooth all around.

seanmcdirmid 4y ago

Tap to pay is common in the states, even at many sit down places, and is ubiquitous at fast food or more casual places.

midoridensha 4y ago
I've never seen it at sit-down restaurants, and I'm not sure how they'd even do it, since frequently the cash register is someplace where customers can't even go. With fast-food, it's easy of course, since you have to stop at the cash register to pay, so the tap reader is right there. In Japan, it's the same as American fast food (even at sit-down restaurants): you have to go to the register to pay, usually next to the door. In Europe, however, my experience has been that most restaurants have a portable payment terminal they bring to the table for you.
- seanmcdirmid 4y ago
  Strange. Almost all sit-down restaurants here have a portable POS (like you describe for Europe), they just bring it to your table and you can either chip or tap. A lot of Chinese restaurants use QR menus instead, you can pay by your table number at the website it opens. At fast food restaurants, you just pay at the terminal you ordered your food at. At places that don't have that, like Dick's, you just pay at the terminal they have at the register. The non-chain places usually have Stripe or Square, they all support tap or chip. I can't remember the last time I gave my card to someone.
  - midoridensha 4y ago
    Weird, I've never seen this stuff in the US, this is entirely different from my experience. But I left the US a long, long time ago, so maybe things have changed. I haven't been back since 2022.
    - seanmcdirmid 4y ago
      It might also be regional. The USA is large, and Seattle is very different from Miami. It was definitely like that in 2022 here, and I haven't carried cash in my wallet since I returned from china in 2016 (where, ironically, I had to use cash for everything because you needed a Chinese ID card to use WePay).

petodo 4y ago

Can you bring your own drinks to restaurant as in China? Of course also no tipping in China. Here in Europe you can get by without tipping quite easily, but I don't think they would allow you to bring your own drinks and honestly it also doesn't make sense. Why can't I drink my own drink, am I not paying enough for the meal itself that you need to rob me on drinks? Might as well not going to your place at all and eat at home, if you have problem with my own drinks.

midoridensha 4y ago
No, I don't think you can bring your own drinks typically in Japan. I've never seen it. I haven't tried though. However, unlike Europe, water is free and even though it's tap water, it's really good (Tokyo has excellent municipal water quality). European restaurants are terrible that way; they want to sell you ridiculously expensive bottled water that costs more than alcohol. You can "get by without" tipping in Europe, but in some places (like Budapest) they try to guilt tourists into tipping the same way it's done in America with a place on the credit card slip while the server is watching, because they know American tourists are used to tipping a lot. Other places have a place to add a tip too. Japan is different: there is absolutely no tipping, whatsoever. It's not even allowed; they will return your money to you.