There are a lot of cultural differences between restaurants in Japan and the States, and it's worth noting the customs if you're going for dinner in a foreign land. For example, in the States, don't yell for the waiter to come and serve you, and don't try and tip the waiter if you're eating in Japan.
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I've been here a few years and I'm still not comfortable shouting out "sumimasen" to servers. The water glass thing really rang true for me.
Really!? It was one of the first things I was encouraged to do to see if Japanese people could understand me. (My host family made me yell when they wanted more stuff to order, just to give me the practice.) I highly recommend it. You can still speak politely to the wait staff, you know. I habitually say お願いします and 貰えませんか when ordering, just to soften it up a bit. It's how I negotiate the brusque nature of the transaction.
Yes, really. I still do it of course, but I don't quite feel right doing it.
That was a pretty good post. I hate the water shortage at Japanese restaurants both in Japan and in the states. What is that all about?
I tend to choose Japanese restaurants based on whether or not they let me self-serve water from a carafe placed nearby or even on my table...is that bad?
Haha, naw. The customer is always right!
I have never really shouted in a Japanese restaurant do to the fact that in most every restaurant they have some sort of button that rings a bell or a chime.
I do agree with the water. I love drinking liquids when I eat, and the glasses they give you are very tiny.
About the tips. My wife and I talked with bartender in Osaka about tipping. He told us that it was about the hard work and that he takes pride in doing his job. He also mentioned that if someone tips him he feels like he needed to do a better job. It's an interesting phenomenon, and completely backwards from the way things are done in America where everyone expects a tip whether or not they took care of you while you were at the restaurant.
Ya, I have also noticed that Japanese don't believe in Tips. They like hardwork to be get paid. Some countries are horrible with tip expecting waiters.
Let's not indict entire countries here. Where I come from, there are plenty of very personable waiters who seem to really enjoy their jobs. In the end, if servers in tipping societies are focused only on the money, there are other ways to make it than having to put up with the crap some customers give them so I can't believe they're all doing service jobs just for the tips.
At least in the States (not sure about some other countries), there are restaurants where you can get a nice meal for around $20 (￥2000). Comparable stuff here (quality, atmosphere, service) can run you ￥3000 or more. So, even with the tip in the States, you might still be saving money, especially when you consider that entry-level career jobs here pay shyte compared to the US.
I knew people who complained about tipping all the time back home, but the fact is, they were friggin' cheapskates. Even if the bill was super low, they bitched about leaving dollar tips.