TL;DR at the bottom.
For those who don’t know, Omakase means “I’ll leave it up to you” and is used in restaurants to tell the chef to just give you whatever he thinks is best.
I am on a trip in Japan, currently in Morioka, and after finishing dinner at 18.30 they decided to go back to the hotel and do nothing for the rest of the evening.
Not me.
Since learning about Omakase, I have wanted to try doing it in a taxi, and just see where I’ll end up. So I did just that. The driver was initially very confused, but after insisting I was serious, he asked me for a budget, and I told him 5000 yen, which he said would give 30 minutes. We went around Morioka, I told him what we saw earlier, and he ended up taking me to
Mitsuishi shrine, a shrine where a demon is supposedly sealed in the three giant rocks next to enough the shrine us built. He not only drive me there, but jumped out of the taxi to tell me about it.
Then he took me to Kaminohashi bridge, showed me the Giboshi pillars which are apparently 400 years old, and viewed as a local treasure.
Then he drove me around a bit, just talking about local sights without getting out of the taxi, before deciding that although the time was up, he would show me Hachimangu shrine, free of charge.
All through this, Sashi-san, my 70 year old amazing taxi driver, is fighting to translate the things he wants to say into English, while I am just doing my best to put my terrible Japanese to good use. The ban was super passionate, and did his best to give me a great tour of the city despite the fact that I am going sightseeing at night (although many of the Shriners look super cool at night, so I have no regrets about it).
All in all an amazing experience, and it only cost me 5000 yen like he promised, although I was so happy about how it went that I tipped him a 1000 yen extra.
TL;DR: went into a taxi, told him to take me wherever he wanted, and got an amazing guided trip through Morioka, as well as plenty of opportunity to try using my terrible Japanese. 10/10, would Omakase in taxi again.
26 comments
Wow, delightful! Amazing memory for you both 🤗
This is great, though only advisable in smaller cities where it isn’t busy. Definitely don’t do it in Kyoto too.
What a Nice thing you did! Such a Nice story and well done!
Bosei says hi.
Glad you enjoyed it!!
Morioka is a cool place…not just because my wife is from there, but it was also voted as one of NYT 52 places to visit in 2023…coming in only 2nd behind London! My wife doesn’t know what the draw is to her hometown lol!
I have a vlog on my YouTube from when we were there last March, and we’re headed back to Japan this coming March as well.
There’s no problem with this approach except you should communicate with the taxi company in advance as courtesy.
Sounds like a great time, glad you had an amazing experience. Taxi drivers in the more rural areas of Japan can be awesome people to talk to. I’d definitely want to try this when I go back there.
I did however, go on a whole trip to japan that was omakase back in May. That was a fantastic adventure; never knowing where I was going to end up next.
Great idea, and I’m glad it worked out well! I have in-laws in Morioka, and have always had a soft spot for that city.
Damn i thought i was in japan circle jerk for a moment
There is a hot tv show in Japan where they hop in a taxi and ask the driver to take them to their favorite restaurant. They usually end up at some little ma-and-pa shop serving delicious looking food at incredible prices. I’m tempted to try this next time.
Nicely done. Will try next time i’m there
Fun fact about Mitsuishi Shrine: it holds the origin of the name of Iwate Prefecture. The demon sealed away there left a handprint on one of the rocks, which led to the name 岩 *iwa* ‘rock’ + 手 *te* ‘hand’ for the region.
You can see the handprint(s) on the rock, but depending on who you ask, you’ll get a different answer about where on the rock it is…
This is the kind of stuff which should go into travel guides.
Excellent story. I’m sure he enjoyed it just as much as you! He’ll definitely be telling his family about his passenger
Consider yourself lucky, every taxi driver I’ve tried communicating with finds it difficult to get to my hotel even after showing the Japanese business card address and directions. More than once, they’ve had to pull over and phone the hotel to double check directions.
Have you had wanko soba yet?
Ryusendo was also really great if you haven’t gone yet.
I did a similar thing in Kameoka but had the hotel set it up. Absolutely worth it.
What a wholesome story. Felt like I was watching a movie as I read
You did the gaijin smash. No one just says “omakase shimasu” to a taxi driver. What the fuck? But you have a good story. LOL. Glad it turned out well.
I did something similar back in 2015. We rented out a taxi for the entire day in Yamaguchi. I had only one place in mind but the taxi driver took us to other spots that were super cool. One place we went to was super empty and there was almost nobody there. I heard now it can get quite busy so it’s pretty cool I have pictures of the area with no one there!
I’m glad you enjoyed it! Honestly my favorite experience in Japan and I’ve gone there over 20 times!
For anyone who speaks Japanese does this make any sense in a taxi or would you say osusume or some other shit?
omakase being used outside of a restaurant seems pretty weird
While it’s all good that it worked out great, it was listed as one of the top few things annoying customers do according to taxi drivers in a Japanese TV show. I wouldn’t do it in big cities where drivers are getting less experienced and just go where they are told by GPS
Glad you had fun but I find this idea pretty cringe tbh. Sounds like you pressured the taxi driver into becoming your personal tour guide.
I could see many drivers being annoyed, stressed or simply refusing such an unusual request, especially from a foreigner with little Japanese skills. Based on your account, sounds like your driver warmed up to the idea by the end but I would not recommend this approach in most cases.
Just for my knowledge, can you use omakase at like, any restaurant? Any place where food or drinks can be bought? I could see that being pretty useful for ordering since my Japanese is no good.
I’ve been living in Morioka since 2010. Love that you were interested enough to come for a visit! I always wonder if there’s enough here to interest tourists. A great place to live, and tons of amazing spots within daytripping distance, but good to know the city itself was fun for you!
Fun for you, and you gave the driver a “crazy gaijin” story he will be telling for decades ))))
Glad the experience went well, but in the future use a company specifically designed for this kind of setup. Even weirder to hear omakase being used towards a taxi.
I can’t imagine the amount of stress you put on the driver. Would they let you know they’re stressed out? Probably not, because of how infused omotenashi is in all client facing businesses.
That and taxis are in shortage, and the last thing we need is an influx of foreigners completely bottlenecking the remaining taxis.
Reminds me of this British girl who used the MariCar service in Tokyo and said how all the Japanese people there waved at her and liked seeing it. And I asked her if she really thinks Japanese people love its presence.
“Of course, nobody said no or objected to it”, and it was an impossibility to hammer it in her head, the concept of honne and tatemae that she just thinks everyone there loves accommodating to her whim because they are so enthusiastic to serve her, etc.
tl;dr Japanese workers aren’t all going to be so enthusiastic internally/mentally when presented with a stressful situation, but can/will hide it well externally