When you travel abroad, you may pay for tips in various situations. Since tipping is a widespread manner and rule in other countries, some people may have had the experience of wondering whether they should or should not tip at their overseas travel destinations. However, Japan does not have a culture of tipping.
In this article, we will discuss the reasons why the Japanese do not pay tips.
What is tipping?
A tip is a money given to a person as a token of appreciation or consideration for various services received, such as at a hotel, restaurant, or cab. There is a theory that it originated in European barbershops, where customers put an arbitrary amount of money in the tip box for services for which there was no set price, or in pubs in England, where people wanted to receive quick service. At any rate, the practice began in Europe and spread around the world, and today tipping culture has taken root in many countries.
However, tipping culture varies from country to country, with some countries, such as the United States, institutionalizing tipping, while in others tipping is not obligatory. When traveling, it is a good idea to find out in advance what the tipping culture is like in the country you are visiting.
Why there is no tipping etiquette in Japan
Although there used to be a tipping etiquette in Japan, it did not take root, and nowadays you will almost never encounter a situation where you have to pay a tip. Instead, hotels and high-end restaurants sometimes charge a percentage of the service price as a “service charge” on top of the service price. In Japan, it is common to set a service charge, or what is known as a gratuity, which is an automatic payment system, so tipping separately is almost unheard of.
However, this does not mean that tipping is completely absent in Japan. It is acceptable to tip when you receive more service than you paid for at a hotel or restaurant, and sometimes cash is given to ryokan waitresses in the form of “gratuities”. In such cases, it is proper to pay in bills, not coins, and to wrap the money in a decorative envelope and seal it before handing it to the recipient with a slight bow.
Different Tipping Cultures in Different Countries
I mentioned earlier that tipping is institutionalized in the United States, but Canada, Mexico, and Egypt are other countries where tipping is also institutionalized. In many cases, basic wages are low because tips are expected in these countries, and tips are a valuable source of income.
On the other hand, tipping is not mandatory in many European countries. This is because, like in Japan, there are many places that set a service charge. In some cases, it is better to tip in places that do not set a service charge, so be flexible and adapt to the tipping culture of the country you are in.
Some countries do not require tipping, such as Argentina, France, Oman, and Yemen. In Argentina, tipping is illegal, so you should avoid paying tips just because you are abroad. You can see that tips are treated very differently in each country.
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