{"id":846933,"date":"2026-01-04T21:26:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T19:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=846933"},"modified":"2026-01-04T21:31:42","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T19:31:42","slug":"japanese-restaurants-are-a-revelation-to-south-africans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/846933\/japanese-restaurants-are-a-revelation-to-south-africans\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese restaurants are a revelation to South Africans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Restaurants in Tokyo, Japan, show that you can enjoy excellent and affordable food without the need to struggle with waiters, engage in awkward small talk, or worry about tipping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BusinessTech recently visited Japan, following numerous people’s praise for the country as a great travel destination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We spent most of the time in Tokyo, which was precisely as enjoyable as the people who advised us to visit it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is an honest and advanced society where residents and visitors enjoy complete safety, excellent service, and a wealth of things to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the things which stood out, apart from their obsession with claw machines, was the great experience when visiting restaurants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the staff could not speak English, the restaurants were so well organised that it was easy to order food and pay for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first difference between restaurants in Japan and South Africa is that you see precisely what you are ordering through window displays and visual menus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many restaurants display model plates in their windows, showing what the food on the menu looks like and its corresponding price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a remnant of times before colour photography and printing. The displays show clients what they were getting and what they would pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apart from the benefit of transparency, it also enables customers to decide what they want before entering, making the service faster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most restaurants also have colour photographs in their menus, which clearly show what food you will receive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apart from one instance where we mistook eel for chicken, which looked similar in the photographs, we always received exactly what was on display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many restaurants offered an English menu online through a QR code, which removed the language barrier completely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ordering process was seamless. In less modern restaurants, you could point to the dish you want, which the waiter would then record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In more modern restaurants, everything was done on a tablet. You take your seat, order your food and drinks through the tablet on the table, and it soon arrives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is minimal interaction with the staff. They show you your table, you order your food, it arrives, you enjoy it, and you pay. That is it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a pleasure not to be bothered by the waiter and the restaurant staff asking you how your meal was halfway through, as is customary in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Japan, they discovered that people dislike being bothered by waiters or restaurant managers while enjoying their food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No tips and paying for your food<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The restaurant prices in Tokyo were surprisingly affordable. Most meals cost between R100 and R150, which include a protein, rice, a broth, and a salad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another great tradition at these restaurants was that you immediately got a glass of water when you sat down. No need to ask, and it is refilled all the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most pleasant aspect of visiting a restaurant in Japan is that there are no tips and that you always pay on your way out of the establishment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although there were no tips, the service was exceptional. In Japanese culture, providing excellent service is a matter of professional pride and a fundamental part of the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If that service were bought with a tip, it would no longer be considered sincere hospitality. It would just be a transaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike South Africa, where waiters rely on tips to make up for a lower wage, Japanese service workers are paid a standard hourly wage or salary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The price listed on the menu is the price you pay. Employers are responsible for paying their staff, not the customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After you finish your meal, you can get up, take your bill, and proceed to the payment counter located at the entrance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is always a friendly staff member who quickly rushes to help you. Most restaurants accept cash, credit cards, or mobile payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is surprising how pleasant it is to visit a restaurant when you remove the need to tip or wait for a waiter to fetch a card machine to pay your bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Japan, the payment process is made part of the restaurant experience. It is designed to be as frictionless and efficient as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This system is beneficial for both staff and clients. It creates certainty and removes all awkwardness and long waiting times associated with paying your bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Examples of food samples in restaurant windows and menus<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

The food in Tokyo, Japan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Going to a restaurant in Japan makes South Africans realise that there is another way to enjoy food and be served.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":846845,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[1612,10783,4517],"class_list":["post-846933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-japan","tag-restaurants","tag-tokyo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=846933"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":847007,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846933\/revisions\/847007"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/846845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=846933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=846933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=846933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}