Is it weird to ask for hot water

I like to know if it is weird to ask for hot water at a restaurant. When I was in Korea during winter, they served customers cold water. I was surprised because it was already cold outside & they want to make customers colder! I understand Japanese restaurants typically serve ocha but if I politely reject it & ask for hot water instead, will the waitress shoot me a strange look??? In my country, it is perfectly all right to ask for hot water at a restaurant, though some restaurants charge a nominal sum for it. I do not know about Japan. Can someone please comment?

First of all, it's not "weird." But where hot water is not readily available, your order will force the waiter some extra effort. So you're practically asking them to do you a favor when you can just pay for hot English tea or something.

In other words, it's not weird for restaurants to serve cold water in winter. Drinking water is cheap in Japan, and it's better than to serve nothing. You can say you don't want it if you don't. Meanwhile, you need electricity or gas to keep hot water hot.

Places that serve free hot tea (not all restaurants do) obviously has hot water available at all times, so at these places ordering hot water will cause no extra effort at all.

Ask for "Sayu", boiled water for drinking. Most restaurants usually keep hot water in an electric pot(s) to make green tea. So if they serve Ocha, they can just serve hot water in a cup instead.

People ask for hot water. Nothing weird. I think any decent place will give you hot water.

I even asked for some hot water in a McDonald's one day to take with my pills with and they gave me some a cup of hot water with a smile.

Hi guys, thank u so much for your help. I appreciate it. I can't take anything with caffeine, so that's why I gotta ask for hot water instead. "Osayu futatu kudasai"~~~ (^.^)

Sayu (oyu) wo nihai kudasai.

Would be more proper in Japanese.
Hot water please could be more straightforward

It won't be anything strange to ask but it's just a rare case so the person serving you might not understand instantly what's being asked if in accentuated Japanese.

Hi
I guess "Oyu" is more popular and direct. "Oyu wo 2hai kudasaai!" or "Oyu" and two fingers up. Restaurant staff thinks offering tea is better service than simple hot water. But it is completely understandable if you want hot water, such as having pills, or caffeine reasons.

BTW, Sayu (白湯; white/plain hot-water) never be prefixed by O (御/お).
So maybe "oSayu please" is not understood.

Say "Sayu" or "oYu" as the above mentioned.

BTW, strictly speaking,
"Sayu" means "cooled boiled water" and "oYu" means "hot water",
but that's not sensitive at all.

To: ajapanese boy, get the LED out, Sons & Daughters

Thanks a lot for your help!

Some places may not do it.
I was told once in a michi no eki in Aomori that as it was summer they wouldn't do hot ocha...
I doubt they would have done hot water either.
They did have hot filtered coffee.

I'd just like to add, it's incorrect that sayu is never prefixed by O. My Japanese mother always asked for this in restaurants as she cannot drink water that is too chilled. Maybe it's not the macho way to ask, but it's polite and definitely done :) Oh, and it's not weird at all.

As Tigerlily said, I made a mistake.
I should have wrote "oSayu is too polite, so it's hard to be understood, and I never heard it".

But now I followed up about oSayu,
then I found that is often used by ladies especially among mothers who have her child.
They say "Sayu is a bit rough, you should say oSayu"...(x_x;

So I can say only "oYu" is very easy to be understood.

Hi ajapanese boy, mmm... If i do not have a child with me, can I still say "osayu" or would they think it strange???

Sorry for confusion and taking your time...

You can say "oSayu".
But maybe some like me are hard to follow/catch the word.

I was just afraid like this,
"oSayu itadakemasuka?"
"Pardon me?" (This gaijin-san wants oKayu[gruel]?)
"oSayu... oYu?"
"Oh, I see!" (What a polite Japanese speaker!)
But you know both of oSayu and oYu, so no problem.

BTW, mothers often need "cooled boiled water" for babies, so they be used to it, I think.
And they like to use refined/ladylike language, you know.
Even my mother and sister answered me that they call it "oSayu"...(x_x;