Tipping in Japan / Tokyo ?

How is %26#39;tipping culture%26#39; in Japan/Tokyo?

Is it regular to tip in restaurants, taxi, bell-boy, guides, hotel-service, etcetera ?

Thanks,

Otto.

Tipping in Japan / Tokyo ?

No tipping is very uncommon in Japanese culture.

There are rare cases, but those are tokubetsu.

Generally you don%26#39;t tip restaurants, bellboys, hotel service etc. In Japanese culture, that is seen as an insult. It is seen as you have to pay them more money to do their jobs correctly, a big no no.

Tipping in Japan / Tokyo ?

Tipping is not done in Japan. Just search the word tipping in the forum search button and you will see discussions on it. There was a fairly lively discussion once as to whether or not one tipped at exclusive ryokans, but for normal tourist activities, taxis, restaurants, hotel help etc, tipping is definitely never done.

On my first trip to Tokyo I attempted to tip a taxi driver who, in spite of the language barrier, made it very clear that this was not acceptable.

The world would be a better place if no tipping is done like Japan, Australia, etc. and everyone is served/attended the same efficiently.

Don%26#39;t tip in Japan - people just think you forgot or lost your money.

Worst case, people think its an insult. So don%26#39;t tip.

There is not tipping in Japan, but the tipping culture is not sneaking into Australia. American, particularly NYC, is the worst.

I think only a small tip to your attendant at a Ryokan is appropriate.

Hi Sammy...pass it on :-) No to tipping in Australia either!! :-)

Reading my own post above, I can%26#39;t type these days! Of course I meant to say ';tipping is NOW sneaking into Australian culture.'; My friends were advising me to leave coins or round up credit card slips at the end of meals. I hope we can stay away from that.

Sidetracked to NYC, many years ago when I was a college student in the States, I was on a shuttle bus that took me from La Guardia to Garden City, Long Island so I could make it to a wedding the next day. I tipped the driver $5 and he started yelling at me saying something like ';Five bucks? That%26#39;s it???'; Now this wasn%26#39;t even real limo service since it was just a commuter bus with people going to different destinations so I don%26#39;t know what he was expecting.

For business travel, we used to stay at the Grand Hyatt at Grand Central every year. I remembered to get to the lobby, we first had to tip the guy that opened the cab door, then another guy to take our luggage up to the lobby level via a very short set of escalators, then finally the bellman that took our luggage to the room. It%26#39;s like being hit three times before we could get settled!