My husband and I were in Furano yesterday to see the flower fields. We decided to stop at a curry rice restaurant for a late lunch but didn’t realize until we had already eaten that the restaurant only accepted cash.
Our meals added up to about 2800 yen but we only had a little less than 1300 left. We were super apologetic, tried to ask them if there’s an ATM around, and promised we would come straight back, but the owner insisted it was okay and we were all set.
Obviously we felt horrible about being short on cash and also shocked that the owner would be so generous and nice about it. If that happened in the US, where we’re from, there’s no way they would just let us go without (at the very least) a promise to come back with the rest of the money.
I quickly found an ATM nearby and took the remaining amount out. However, when I tried to give the amount owed (plus a little tip for their understanding and generosity), the owner chased me down to give me the money back.
She quite literally put the money back in my purse, and I didn’t push back or try to force her to take it as I felt like that would’ve been rude.
Now we’re wondering if we may have made a faux pas by trying to give them the money we owed them + the tip, after their grace of letting us go and not requesting we pay them back. Is this just a cultural difference?
by GroundbreakingCow305