Free tap water at Okonomiyakiya

last year i went to Tokyo for 2 weeks, and altough i never ordered a drink (i am a budget traveller and i always took free water at mc donald's , yoshinoya, nakau etc) when i went to an Okonomiyaki-ya in shinjuku, when the waitress asked me "onominomo ha?", i said "mizu dake", and then she said "mizu ha arimasen", and i had to order a coke (not only i don't like to spend 200 yen for a glass of coke, but i don't like to drink soft drink whent i'm eating, they're too sweet i think).
next year i'm moving to tokyo , and i'd like to know if there is some kind of rule like
-all okonomiyaki ya don't have free tap water
-in places that aren't a part of chains (like yoshinoya or burger king) you have to take something to drink
or something like that

The only places I've been to that refuse water are night clubs.

Of course there's no rule at okonomiyaki shops about water.
I was either specific to that place or the girl was taking you for a ride.
Some izayaka and bars do have a 1-drink minimum policy but usually they have those things either posted up front or on the menu.

Next time, just refuse to order a drink and if they say a drink order is required, politely get up and leave.

They have the right to make certain policies but you have every right to choose another location.

Agreed with above, there isn't a set rule for certain establishments to offer free water or not. Most places do, or even better, serve (instant) tea.

They could at least give you a glass of water... If they don't, get up and leave. Simple. Okonomiyaki isn't that rare which you'll find when you move here.

What I find worse than the 1-drink minimum is the "otoshi", something just shy of an appetizer (leftovers from previous day) that they charge you for so you can't just order one drink and leave. If you're not used to Japanese food, it could be something unappetizing (but you don't have to eat it).

Well, if you "get up and leave" just because you can't get free water, I have to say you'd be contributing on building the stereotipical view that foreigners are weird, stingy and hard-to-handle.

Locals who don't prefer sweet drinks simply order Oolong tea (uron-cha). Or all you have to do is to ask for anything that's not sweet. Otherwise, you can just order the cheapest drink on the menu and not drink it. Simple as that.

It's not the responsibility of any individual to give in to service he/she doesn't agree with just to counter some discriminatory view of foreigners.

Providing water is a bare minimum service that is practiced throughout 99.9% of dining establishments in Japan (and many countries around the world).

Why on earth should we bow down to the will of some greedy owners becomes of some perceived stereotype against foreigners.

Last time I checked, "gaijin" didn't = "rude" and it didn't = "dumb sucker" either.
Many Japanese people would choose not to return to an establishment that refused basic water service just to turn a profit.

Please don't advise people to forfeit their basic rights as a consumer so they can be viewed as the "good little gaijin".

could she have been confused and thought that you were talking about bottled water?

you should ask for tap water next time.. if they refuse it you might wanna ask if they have a must-order-drink policy or something (or look around in the menu or around any signage in the store..).

no water is REALLY weird and i would chalk it up to a miscommunication before raising the racism flag.

How do you distinguis tap water and bottled water? Are there different words for them, all i know is mizu = water. Or is there some specific word for ordering water at restaurants. Also what´s mineral water in japanese?

I honestly can't think of a situation where a waiter/waitress in a restaurant would assume "mizu" meant bottled water.

Unless of course he held up a bottle of Evian in her face and pointed to it saying "mizu, mizu!".

Otherwise, most restaurants and certainly okonomiyaki shops usually don't even sell bottled water.

Perhaps she had some preconceived notion that foreigners only drink bottle water? Even still, to have someone say "mizu" and respond with "mizu ga nai" is most likely demanding he purchase a drink.

I'm not denying any sort of rights. All persons are free to leave a restaurant for whatever reason they want to. I'm just sharing gossips, that's all. I felt that viewers have the right to know :)

Ask for "Ohiya"=cold water. No confusion anywhere and free.
The green tea served at sushi shop is called "agari"
No confusion.
The bill is "okanjo"
Be like you are in the know.

As Winterwolf wrote, I thought that this should be some kind of miscommunication, because I do not know the situation that I must order a drink in a Okonomiyakiya. Therefore, I googled "飲み物を頼まないといけないお好み焼き屋" (Okonomiyakiya where you must order drinks), and found some cases. These are written by Japanese people and some of them do not understand those situations. I think these Okonomiyakiyas are a kind of Izakaya, however you can not distinguish them from the normal Okonomiyakiya where water is free.

I can not find a key to a peaceful settlement however, you should keep some extra money when you enter into a restaurant which is unfamiliar to you. In most cases, the menu says you must order some drinks, in this type of restaurant, which most of people will not notice before you complete their order.

I should go check that place out. Its weird that they wouldnt even have bottled water available to purchase?

I usually always order juice or a cocktail AND water. Its just a requirement that I like to wash my food down with water as well as enjoy a drink of something sweet. So they should have free cup water or bottle water for purchase. What kind of restaurant is this? And dont they use water to wash dishes and cook food. lol. I would probably argu with them.. and make sure I go with my baby too, and say I need water to make her formula. lol.

Wow, that's a bit strange. I've never encountered a okomoniyasan, let alone a restaurant that didn't offer water. I wonder what part of Tokyo OP was in when this happened. I'm taking a wild guessing and saying that it was probably a high traffic part of Shinjuku.

Either way, if they don't offer water, that's ridiculous. I don't know if I'd have the balls to stand up and leave but I certainly would never go to that restaurant again.

What I'm going to write is totally off-topic. I repeat, this is totally off-topic.

There are plenty of places that require you to order at least one drink apart from the food you order. These places are night-time drinking places. So if you want to avoid these places, all you have to do is to dine before 5pm. AND by the way, at these places, you can still ask for water by saying, "I'm ordering this so and so drink. By the say, can you get me a glass of tap water?"

Sorry.

Incorrect:
By the say

Correct:
By the way