{"id":3871,"date":"2020-07-21T09:54:20","date_gmt":"2020-07-21T00:54:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vhbloglive.wpengine.com\/?p=3871"},"modified":"2020-07-21T09:54:22","modified_gmt":"2020-07-21T00:54:22","slug":"how-to-order-at-a-japanese-restaurant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/japanese-apartment-life\/how-to-order-at-a-japanese-restaurant\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Order at a Japanese Restaurant"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Going out and\ntrying the local foods is something that every traveler should do when they go\nto Japan. Our article will help those who may be confused about how they should\norder their food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is always a\ntreat to try out the foods in different parts of the world. But first-time\nvisitors to Japan might encounter some difficulties preventing them from having\nan amazing food experience. For one, it can be a little hard to spot some\nrestaurants in Japan because they tend to blend in with their surroundings. Or,\nthe signs could be in kanji and unreadable for foreigners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you do find\na restaurant, it can be confusing trying to figure out the menu, how to call\nthe waiter or waitress, tipping, and paying the bill. We will go through the\ndifferent kinds of restaurants, the way you should act while you are there, and\nhow eating out generally works in Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Finding a Restaurant<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of the more\ninteresting aspects of Japan is the way that they plan out buildings and how restaurants\noccupy their spaces. Most places have restaurants in a single building to\nthemselves or on a single floor or room. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most buildings in\nTokyo have stores going up each floor of the building. So instead of looking at\nwhat is on the street side or first-floor, you should look up at the signs on\nthe sides of buildings. Buildings usually have multiple small restaurants going\nup a six-floor structure. You will find a variety of places to eat in one\nbuilding and could try different dining experiences without having to travel\nfar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Most places have\nbegun to add English to their signs to attract more foreigners. If you want the\nmost authentic experience, try to find a place that has everything written in\nkanji and almost no English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Reading the Menu<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ordering at a\nJapanese restaurant can be very difficult if you can\u2019t read hiragana or\nkatakana, and there are a lot of restaurants that have kanji only menus. This\ncan be frustrating and seem almost impossible but you can use a simple phrase\nthat will help you in any restaurant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you don\u2019t know\nwhat you should order, and there are no pictures to help you, you can say\n\u201cOsusumewa?\u201d It means \u201cWhat do you recommend?\u2019 They will usually say what their\nspecial dish is and you can agree to it. You may end up with something you\ndidn\u2019t think you could order but it could be a new dish that you might\ninstantly enjoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Restaurants that\nhave picture menus are the easiest to use as you can simply point to the\npicture on the menu and the staff can easily figure out what you want. These\nkinds of menus are in most restaurants and you will have an easier time ordering\nyour meal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other restaurants,\nespecially ramen stands, use ticket machines for customers to order their food.\nThe machines look like vending machines and they will have a menu item on each\nbutton. Most have pictures above each selection to make it easier to find the\nfood you want. Many have English translations on their machines for foreigners.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These machines\nare fast and easy to use. Put your money in first, push the button for your\nmeal, then give the ticket to the wait staff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ordering and Wait Staff<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In a traditional-style\nrestaurant, you will be waited on like most western restaurants. After you walk\nin the door, you will be seated or instructed to wait for the next available\nseating area. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once seated, the\nstaff will greet you and give you menus or explain how their tablets work for\nthe restaurant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biggest cultural\ndifference is that in Japanese restaurants, the customer must call the wait\nstaff instead of the wait staff checking on them over and over. Just raise your\nhand and say \u201cSumimasen\u201d aloud and they will go see you. Make sure to add a\n\u201ckudasai\u201d to be polite when ordering food. Some restaurants have bells for\ncalling the wait staff and when you are ready to eat or get the check you can\nring it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Finishing the Meal<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Once you have\nfinished your meal you will need to take your check to the cashier and pay.\nMany restaurants have begun to have card readers installed, but the majority of\nrestaurants are cash only. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing that\neveryone must remember is that there is no tipping in Japan. They feel that the\nservice is paid for through their salaries. If you leave money as a tip the\nwait staff will chase after you to give it back. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It is always a pleasurable\nexperience to go out and enjoy some food with friends. It should never be\nhampered by an inability to order your food. Relax and enjoy the time as most\nwait staff have experience with foreigners having trouble ordering their food.\nTry your best and enjoy eating Japanese food!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Going out and trying the local foods is something that every traveler should do when they go to Japan. Our article will help those who may be confused about how they should order their food. It is always a treat to try out the foods in different parts of the world. But first-time visitors to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3872,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-japanese-apartment-life"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}