Many people have been wrongly informing others about the tipping culture in Japan, so I’d love to tell the truth about it as a Japanese local, born, raised, and iving in Japan.
We do have a tipping culture and custom, but it’s very different from the North American style. Our tipping culture involves refusing to receive change in most cases, similar to the European style.
In many places, such as chain stores and restaurants, tipping isn’t accepted since the money (bills and coins) they receive and give out is registered in a system and needs to be calculated at the end of the day. Therefore, they never want tips. For example, in convenience stores or McDonald’s, you never have to leave a tip. If you don’t need small coins, put them into a donation box. There’s always a donation box in major convenience store chains, usually for victims of natural disasters.
However, there are certain situations or places where tipping is expected, such as expensive and luxurious restaurants, ryokans, bars, or small family-owned restaurants. Here are some examples:
When you go to an expensive sushi restaurant and an omakase set and drinks cost 58,000 JPY, you can pay 60,000 JPY and politely refuse to receive change. They may reject your offer if you pay with 1,000 yen notes, so it’s recommended to pay with six 10,000 JPY notes. This also applies to expensive bars.
When you stay at a high-end ryokan and meals are served in your room by staff wearing traditional clothes, you can leave a tip on the table when you check out. It’s highly recommended to put cash in a small, nice paper envelope.
When you take a taxi and the fare is about 1,900 JPY, you can pay 2,000 JPY and refuse to receive change. Independent taxi drivers have to carry small coins for change, which incurs fees for them, so it’s considerate to refuse change in this situation.
Additionally, tipping isn’t rude or offensive. It’s just troublesome when you try to tip in a chain store, but we Japanese don’t think it’s rude at all.
We also have Japanese words that mean tip, such as 心付け (kokorozuke), おひねり (ohineri), and お花代 (ohanadai), so we certainly have opportunities to tip. Some tourists want to visit luxurious places in Japan, so it’s nice to know this in advance.
Edit:
To be clear, you’re NEVER forced or required to pay tips, even in the situations listed above. What I want to convey is that tipping isn’t rude. We also have tipping cultures, which are different from the American ones.
Edit2:
Many people seem not to have read these paragraphs, so this is TL;DR.
American-style tipping doesn’t exist here.
In most places, you don’t have to tip. You shouldn’t tip.
However, Japan has a tipping culture, which is very different. Mostly this happens in fancy places.
I’m not encouraging you to tip. I’m just saying tipping isn’t rude at all. If we don’t need to tip, we just refuse.
by fujirin