Touching your hand when giving change

I was wondering if anyone can explain to me the background or reason why the Japanese have those plates for you to put your money in when paying for something. They seem to get offended when you just hand them the money.

Also why when females are handing you back your change, they touch the back of your hand. I guess it is incase the change falls out of your hand? But seems to be done when not really necessary like just a few small coins.

Maybe these are dumb questions, but I am just a curious guy and would like to know :)

I always thought that it is easier to pass over and count money when you put it onto a plate, especially when lots of coins are involved. Furthermore, the money can be left on the counter until the change is returned. In that way, it is possible to re-confirm the original amount paid in case of a dispute.

I'm one of these dumb Japanese housewives that keep on dropping coins even if there are only one or two. Quite often, they roll under these heavy counters or machinery and almost give me a back ache or jam the queue behind me.

Btw, I once saw a post in the Japanese internet from a person who was disgusted about people touching her hand when handing change. She didn't want to be touched. Another poster had posted the obvious solution: Hand the exact amount, so that you need not get any change back.

In my country in Azerbaijan, it is not suitable to touch a hand when you give exchange, but there are stupid people who like to touch a hand when giving exchange, they just like to use the circumstances, but when i get exhange, i just open my palm and that person drops coins, so that person can not touch my hand.by azeri senem

That would not necessarily work in Japan, azeri senem, as some people here will cup your hand from underneath while giving you the change with the other hand, to make sure none is dropped.

I don't know why people worry about things like this so much- distaste of being touched by someone giving you change seems like a symptom of an obsessive-compulsive disorder to me.

I much prefer the way they do it here to the treatment you get in some countries- in Europe I have had change actually thrown onto the counter in front of me more than once.

It was mostly the pretty, smiley, nice young Japanese women that did it in my experience. So I did not mind it at all :)

''I much prefer the way they do it here to the treatment you get in some countries- in Europe I have had change actually thrown onto the counter in front of me more than once.''

I was going to say the same thing. After being back in the UK for 7 years, it now always annoys me the way people in Italy will always put change on the counter, even if I hold out my hand. I recently noticed they do it in Belgium as well.