tipping and gift giving

I am staying at the Iwaso ryokan in Miyajima in mid April. I have read a number of times that tipping is not customary or expected in Japan, but I have since found information suggesting that it IS expected in Ryokans.

Is this the case? How much will I be expected to give and to whom?

I have been also advised to bring small gifts to give to people who are helpful. Could some one explain this a bit for me, this is not a usual custom in the UK. Am I expected to give gifts to everyone, such as those who may give me directions or just to people who are particularly helpful or that I meet more than once?

I am leaving for Japan on April 1st and would like to know roughly how many 'gifts' to bring with me!

Yes, indeed at real "ryokans" - meaning those where you have spacious, traditional Japanese room, to which the inn staff bring your meals - you do "tip," - upon arrival and when you are shown to your room, then the head service staff comes to greet you in your room, then the guests are supposed to give her let's say, 2,000 or 3,000 yen, wrapped in a piece of paper (never just the cash exposed). This is referred to as "kokoroduke," and is given in expectations of good service, not like "tipping" in the West where you tip in appreciation of particularly good service provided.

Looking at the Iwaso Ryokan's website, yes, this is a high-class ryokan; as a Japanese, I would give this tip as a matter of good manners (if I ever stayed in a place like this, that is); if they give it back saying they do charge service charge, so don't worry, I might just take it back. (The reason why I say real ryokan is because lately the word "ryokan" seems to be used at times to refer to Japanese style but no-frills, no meal service type of hostel type of inexpensive inns as well.)

Small gifts: that's only to people who are particularly helpful or that you meet more than once. You are not expected to give out things to just people who show you the way :) Things that have been suggested here on this forum as "useful" small gifts are: key chains, pin badges of your country's flag, kitchen magnets again with some design from your country. But those are just for fun, so no need to worry in terms of following proper custom :) Enjoy your visit!

I am rather concerned by this notion of giving key chains, fridge magnets etc. If someone has been really helpful I would think that something a little more expensive is in order, like some fancy Belgian chocolate or ? giving key chains etc is OK for children under 12 but for adults it would be a bit insulting, don't you think? as if they were some poor 3rd world country people! I try to help tourists as much as possible, either in my home town in North America or when travelling in Europe and Japan and do not expect anything in return. I only hope that they do the same to another lost tourist.

I (Japanese living in Tokyo) help tourists with directions, and sure, I do not expect anything in return :) The idea of the small gifts is just as "token," in a way, and the idea is that it's more fun it's from where you come from. If someone did something fabulous for you, sure, you would go out to buy something for that person as a big THANK YOU! and that should not be just a key chain or something. ... Actually as a traveller, you can go completely without buying small things before you travel :)

When I first came to Japan, I gave souvenirs from my home country to people who I had worked with for the last few months and to my homestay family, i.e. people I had known for a while and built up a relationship with.

As a tourist in Japan it is no more necessary for you to give gifts to people who might help you out than it would be for tourists in your home country- my advice would be not to worry about the little presents at all.

I am surprised that I am expected to give tips at high class ryokans which we have to pay a high price to stay and dine in. Most ryokans have traditional Japanese rooms and most of the time I am shown to my room. JPY2000-3000 is rather too much to pay by a single person, maybe by a family is ok.

My apologies. What I wrote wasn't what I meant to say..I didn't say, and didn't mean to say, that workers in 3rd world countries should be happy to get trinkets..I was thinking of the days not so long ago when tourists from rich countries would give trinkets instead of a living wage to people in poor countries. And poor countries included, again not so long ago(until the late 1950s)quite a few countries in Western Europe. I grew up in towns where many buildings had been destroyed by W.W.II bombings and weren't yet rebuilt. We had food rationing, most families never thought they would ever have a car, there was no TV until the late 1950s etc.