Is Tipping becoming a thing in Japan?

So I went to an Afternoon Tea at the Grand Hyatt in Roppongi on December 29th, and when I was given my receipt to pay it had a line in English for a tip. I've gotten many English receipts in Japan before, but this was the first time I've ever seen a line for tip on the receipt. My foregin friend who lives in Japan had never seen a tip line before either and she has gone to many afternoon teas in Tokyo, though this was her first at the Grand Hyatt.

I admit, I love that in Japan you tend to get great service without needing to tip, so I'm not really keen on tipping becoming de rigeur.

Is tipping coming to Japan? Is this the Grand Hyatt just trying to push things?

Thatfs new to me too. But then I donft do afternoon teas. If I remember, I can ask a friend who is concierge at the Hilton in Shinjuku if he knows something.

That is new to me (a Tokyo resident). Generally speaking, no, tipping is NOT coming to Japan.

Maybe in that place they might have had a lot of cases of westerners wanting to tip but not knowing where to put it that they over-accommodated their needs. (Ifve had a case where my American client definitely wanted to leave a tip for the nice waitress at a cafe, left a 500-yen coin on the table, and she came running after us to return it to him.)

For a little more background...

I started going to Afternoon Teas last December. I'd always wanted to try one, because I like decadent desserts and 5 Star Hotels. In December 2022, we did one at the Ritz Carlton Osaka. In June 2023, we did one at the Zelkova Strings and the Conrad Osaka. And in December outside of the Grand Hyatt we did ones at the Ritz Carlton Osaka, the Zelkova Strings, and the Strings Intercontinental. The Grand Hyatt was the only one that had a tip line.

The Grand Hyatt and Ritz are both buffets, so you are mostly getting your own food items. I know the US is tip happy, but in general, even here, we tip less for buffets because you do more of the work yourself.

At teas in December 2022 and June 2023, we were not charged any service charges.

In December 2023, the Grand Hyatt charged us a 3000 yen additional service charge, as did both Strings. I can sort of see it for both Strings, since they did make up a few special menu items just for us because of our dietary restrictions, so paying an additional fee seems more than worth it. The Grand Hyatt did not make up anything special for us. They did offer to let us order from their regular menu, but had I known I would be paying an additional 3000 yen on top of the 2800 yen for the worst grilled cheese sandwich I've had in a long time, I would not have done so. So it really felt like an insult to see that tip line on top of it.

Overall, the Hyatt had the worst food. (@LikeBike, if you go back to Osaka, I recommend the afternoon tea at the Ritz, it's hands down the best thing about Osaka. Their official special blend tea is amazing as well.)

My friend, who is foreign but has lived in Japan for 4+ years now and has done multiple teas without us, said she has never seen the tip line or the service charge. She doesn't have any dietary restrictions though. She too completely balked at the tip line and thought maybe they were just lazy and using a pre-made format that included the tip line.

I don't plan to go back to the Grand Hyatt (the food was disappinting, do not recommend it) but I just really don't want tipping to become a thing.

Havent seen tipping myself, but as for the afternoon teas, I'd recommend the high tea at Westin Miyako Kyoto which was perfect (though it has been a few years).

@rkold , I am in Osaka right now (but at work) so unfortunately no time for afternoon tea. But in case I am stuck in Osaka for a rainy afternoon I might try. Thanks for the tip.

Much to my surprise, I notice that Grand Hyatt Tokyo's official website clearly mentions "service charge excluded" on their price lists, both on their Japanese language page and English.

NOTE, however, that this doesn't seem to be the case for all Hyatt hotels in Japan, because, for example, Hyatt Regency Yokohama's prices says "service charge included".

Interestingly, on a dinner menu at Grand Hyatt Fukuoka, it says "Price listed are subject to 15% service charge" (in E and J).

But I looked into Twitter (where all the rumors are) and I noticed that Grand Hyatt already had "svc excl" prices as far as in August 2011, although I can't tell if it was a fixed percentage or not.

Then it dawned on me. Come to think of it, prices like "1234 yen + svc" was always seen in Japan, except that the service charge was typically fixed (like so and so percent). So, to a consumer, it was similar to having tax added last minutes, like "Oh, I thought it was only 1000 yen, but I guess you need to multiply zero point something" or "Okay, the sushi chef's charging most people a fixed 10000 yen which seems to include a roughly calculated service charge." And, of course, I'm not talking about Grand Hyatt alone. I'm talking about Japanese establishments of all kinds.

Perhaps more consumers started complaining about the percentage, like "They're charging us as much as 15%?!" or "They're raising from 15% to 19%?!". Creating just a blank line and leaving the percentage to "us" could have been the hotel's way to avoid those complaints.

So, to answer your question, no, tipping has not "become" a thing in Japan. It was always there, except that we didn't notice it because it wasn't up to us to tip. It was automatically forced.

at many famous hotel lounges in Japan, they charge "ƒT[ƒrƒX—¿" with fixed rate. it is true for many years.

@Uco, so that's on me that I didn't check carefully but....

They charged me a service charge AND had a separate line asking for a tip. (vs. the Strings Zelakova and Strings Intercontinental which just had a service charge.)

I've never seen a line specifically asking for tip on top of any service charges.

@ken, I think I was more aware of the service charge because there was also the line specifically asking for tip as well. It was not just one, it was both.

@Likebike, I hope you get a chance to try it. It was very rich and chocolate themed, but really yummy. the chocolate financiers and

@LazyPious, thanks for the recommendation! I appreciate it.

If you want another recommendation for an afternoon tea, the ANA Crowne Plaza in Okayama has a very good one, and the price is also very good. I am not really an afternoon tea person, but I was recently in Japan with a person who loves sweets, and they were offering a special Christmas tea for 4000 yen so we indulged. Both the number of items and the quality (of both sweet and savory items) were impressive, and the teas we tried were quite good. Their gordinaryh afternoon tea service is even cheaper (maybe a little less opulent, but it looks to be pretty ample and good). The hotel has been around for a long time and is dated in some respects, but they are very service-oriented and we had a good stay there (loved the train view room) and really enjoyed the tea. Service in the restaurant was very attentive (it was a fixed menu and not a buffet). If you go, be sure to get there by 3:30 or so. They close at 5 and apparently do not allow you to linger, and I would not have been able to enjoy the tea if I had to wolf it all down in an hour. I believe reservations are required, and they require at least two people to take tea (and any people joining them are required to order at least something from their afternoon menu).

As for tipping in Japan, I see no indication that it is becoming ga thing,h and if the yen stays where itfs at against the dollar, it makes for delightfully low restaurant prices. I was constantly amazed every time I converted a check total to dollars in my head. (Admittedly, I donft go to high-end restaurants, and I wouldnft set foot in the Grand Hyatt Tokyo. The best meals I have are generally in izakayas.)

They charged me a service charge AND had a separate line asking for a tip.

Thanks for your feedback, rkold. But are you sure you it was service charge and not tax? I ask because all prices I've seen so far on Grand Hyatt Tokyo's official website was "tax included, service charge excluded".

In any case, if I were you I'd send the hotel an inquiry to find out why they're doing this. For example, due to the poor economy in Japan, a lot of establishments are doing crowd-funding type of things. If they decided to support their workers by asking for tips, they should clearly write that explanation somewhere. Then more people can gladly and comfortably offer generous tips while knowing that it's completely optional.

I agree that anything confusing and/or mysterious would mostly attract negative feelings.

These days tipping "prompts" are showing up on the electronic pay panels at essentially all restaurants and cafes in the U.S., including fast-food takeout and places where you order at the counter, pick up your food, and find your own table. I will admit that it has made me more conscious of the efforts and likely income level of the people who are working in these places, and usually I do tip now, even though I didn't do so in the past in such places. (I would often throw a dollar or two in the tip bucket if there was one, but that is less than the minimum tip suggested by the prompts for a meal, or for just a couple of coffee drinks and a pastry at Starbucks.)

I have to wonder whether Grand Hyatt is just transferring U.S. billing infrastructure to other countries. At any rate, they should not double-charge for service, especially if they are unclear or deceptive about it.

The price for the tea I had in Okayama included both tax and service charge, and I was not prompted to add a tip.

Yes, @Kim they've been asking for tipping everywhere in the US now. I honestly don't mind it many places but it is somewhat irking at the Farmer's Market when I am the one who has picked out my vegetables and put them in a bag to be weighed myself. I'd rather just pay more and have people paid living wages, than constantly be asked to tip.

I'll have to try the ANA when we go through Okayama. I've heard the ANA in Tokyo is quite good as well.

And yes @Uco, I am sure it was marked as a service charge. I'm going to be honest, I was really disappointed with the food, which is probably another reason this has stuck with me. The poundcake was very cute, but very dry. The scones were also very dry. I get that it's a buffet, but poundcake doesn't usually dry out that fast. I had high expectations because we've stayed at the Hyatt Regency Kyoto 2x and the food there was quite good and they were very supportive of dietary restrictions.

Ifve always assumed that gservice chargeh at Japanese restaurants in fact meant goverheadh or gmore profith for the restaurants and that none of it went to workers, at least directly. But since tipping is not at all a custom in Japan I sort of question whether the workers at the Grand Hyatt are even getting the money earmarked as tips. Surely Grand Hyatt canft be following the U.S. custom of paying servers in restaurants less than minimum wage on the assumption that they will gmake up the differenceh in tips, but I do have to wonder if gtipsh at the Grand Hyatt donft end up being just gadditional overheadh or geven more profitch Of course that would be completely fraudulent, but I guess therefs no way to know unless you are acquainted with someone who works there.

As for the tea at ANA Crowne Plaza in Okayama, it probably doesnft come up to the standard of the Ritz, but I was expecting it might be sort of bush league, and it was anything but. Their regular tea (as opposed to the Christmas tea) might be less impressive, but based on the quality of the Christmas items, I would say you wonft be disappointed if you try it, especially at less than half the price of some offerings at 5-star hotels in Tokyo. (I donft even want to know what you paid at the Grand Hyattc)

Please no, tipping is such a silly thing to begin with.
Just tack on service charge and be done with it, if the service is sub-par then you can always request to have it removed.

That worker is very likely to be a foreigner.

Ifve always assumed that gservice chargeh at Japanese restaurants in fact meant goverheadh or gmore profith for the restaurants and that none of it went to workers, at least directly.

Japanese TV does keep telling us that whatever tip a worker may get in modern Japan (such as in ryokan where tipping is indeed not uncommon), it's usually supposed to go to the establishment. Then the establishment is supposed to feed it back evenly to the workers. At least that's how the system in general is supposed to work. I don't know if Grand Hyatt has a different policy of its own while obeying the law.