Cashless tipping gains ground in Japan with Dinii's new feature
Many would say that along with delicious food and great service, no tipping is right up there among the best parts about restaurant dining in Japan. However, one cashless payment provider wants to play a role in changing that last part, and now includes a prompt encouraging customers to leave a tip.
Tokyo-based Dinii actually has two different tipping systems, with the second being added this past May. It introduced its first take on tipping, called 'Oshi Support,' in 2020, but that works a little differently than the sort of tipping conventionally seen in American restaurants.
Taking a cue from Japanese idol culture in which ardent fans support their favorite performer (oshi) through extra spending, Dinii's Oshi Support allows customers to look at a list of profiles for the restaurant's waitstaff and use it to select an extra payment to be given to the server of their choice.
Dinii's new system, simply called 'tipping,' instead prompts users to select a percentage-based addition to their bill, which goes to the restaurant.Dinii is usable at about 3,000 restaurants in Japan, and the company says that around 13 percent of those make use of the service's new tip payment option.
Though tipping is largely recognized in Japan as originating in foreign dining cultures, Dinii says that its data shows a fairly even split between Japanese and non-Japanese users of its new tip function, based on user language settings, with an overall 56 percent Japanese/43 percent foreigner breakdown (though 61 percent of tippers in the Kansai area, around Osaka and Kyoto, are non-Japanese).
That doesn't mean, though, that Japanese customers are as eager to start tipping as their overseas counterparts. Dinii's statistics about the tipper nationalities don't mean very much without comparing them to the nationalities of the service's total users.
As a Japan-based service without much recognition internationally, it's likely a safe bet that the majority of Dinii's users are Japanese, and so roughly half of tippers being foreigners likely means that far less than 50 percent of the total number of Japanese users are leaving tips.
As for the Oshi Support system, through which one waitress says she was given 70,000 yen in a single month, by co-opting fan jargon and working through perusable profiles, one could make the argument that it's actually closer to the parasocial transactions of host/hostess bars or online influencer donations, where the extra payment has less to do with skillful service and more a desire to support a presumed personal connection.
There are a few other factors to also take into consideration regarding the decision to tip or not in Japan. First, many restaurants in Japan already include a tip substitute in the form of something called otoshi, a small appetizer that is served to customers without them ordering it and must be paid for.
Otoshi portions are small and their ingredients usually inexpensive, and they're priced to boost the restaurant's profit margin a little extra beyond the food and drinks that customers actually order. It's also not unusual for bars and fancy restaurants in Japan to have a seating/table charge built into the bill.
Finally, with tipping not being a common practice at restaurants in Japan, concepts such as the waitstaff pooling and splitting their tips, or a portion of the tips also going to the kitchen staff, may or may not be in place, depending on the establishment.
It's also worth pointing out that part of the way Dinii presents its tip option runs counter to a belief in Japanese society. The text above the tip percentage options reads 'Let's show appreciation with a tip. A special thank you for special service.'
To diners in Japan, though, good service isn't supposed to be 'special,' it's the norm, and something the restaurant should provide as a matter of course, so hopefully attempts to wedge tipping into dining out in Japan won't erode that part of its culture.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Qatar Tribune
11 hours ago
- Qatar Tribune
US retail sales bounce around in whipsaw trade environment
Agencies Consumers picked up their spending in June after an earlier pullback, despite anxiety over tariffs and the state of the U.S. economy. Retail sales rose a better-than-expected 0.6% in June, the Commerce Department said Thursday, after two consecutive months of spending declines, a 0.1% pullback in April and a 0.9% slowdown in May. Earlier in the year, strong retail sales were driven by car sales as Americans attempted to get ahead of President Donald Trump's 25% duty on imported cars and car parts. The erratic spending is taking place during a period of mixed signals about the economy as well. The U.S. economy shrank at a 0.5% annual pace from January through March, but the U.S. job market is proving to be very resilient, and major tariffs keep getting postponed. Americans continue to spend in that environment with a heavy focus on necessities, rather than electronics or new appliances. Yet consumers haven't stopped spending on nonessential goods. Sales at restaurants, the lone services component within the Census Bureau report and a barometer of discretionary spending, rose moderately. 'Consumers are only feeling a modest amount of pressure from tariffs, and any weakness here is not having much of an effect in forcing them to pull back on more discretionary areas of spending such as restaurants and bars,' wrote William Blair's macro analyst Richard de Chazal. Yet Chazal fears that the administration may picking up false assurances from strong consumer spending. Consumer sentiment and markets have tumbled after aggressive tariff announcements. Retail sales in June included a 1.2% gain in sales of autos and auto parts. Spending expanded across most major categories including clothing and personal care. Excluding autos and automotive parts, sales rose 0.5%, according to the Commerce Department Clothing and accessories sales rose 0.9%, while health and personal care sales saw a 0.5% bump. Online retailers recorded a 0.4% gain. Electronics and appliance retailers, furniture stores and department stores all saw sales declines. A category of sales that excludes volatile sectors such as gas, cars, and restaurants rose last month by 0.5% from the previous month. The figure feeds into the Bureau of Economic Analysis's consumption estimate and is sign that consumers are still spending on some discretionary items. Heather Long, the chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, noted that layoffs remain low and consumers are still confident enough that the economy is chugging along. 'Don't count the American consumer out yet,' said Long in a statement. 'There's still a lot of trepidation about tariffs and likely price hikes, but consumers are willing to buy if they feel they can get a good deal. The word of the summer for the economy is resilient.' The retail sales report arrives amid a whipsaw frenzy of on and off again tariffs have that jolted businesses and households. For businesses, that has made it harder to manage supply and inventories. Americans are focusing more on necessities, when they do shop. The latest government report showed that inflation rose last month to its highest level since February as Trump's sweeping tariffs push up the costs of everything from groceries and clothes to furniture and appliances. Consumer prices rose 2.7% in June from a year earlier, the Labor Department said Tuesday, up from an annual increase of 2.4% in May. On a monthly basis, prices climbed 0.3% from May to June, after rising just 0.1% the previous month. Trump insists that the U.S. effectively has no inflation as he has attempted to pressure Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell into reducing short-term interest rates. Yet the new inflation numbers make it more likely that the central bank will leave rates where they are. Powell has said that he wants to measure the economic impact of Trump's tariffs before reducing borrowing costs. Americans have continued to spend, which is what the Fed had hoped to curtail a little bit with rate hikes. One big litmus test was Amazon's four-day Prime event along with competing retail sales from the likes of Walmart and Target that kicked off last week. Adobe Digital Insights, which tracks online sales, reported that the sales events drove $24.1 billion in online spending, a 30.3% increase compared with the same period last year.
Qatar Tribune
11 hours ago
- Qatar Tribune
Japan auto exports to US dive as tariffs bite
Agencies Japanese auto exports to the United States tumbled more than a quarter in June, official data showed Thursday, amid growing concern at the failure of Tokyo to strike a deal to avoid the worst of Donald Trump's tariffs. Roughly eight percent of jobs are tied to the auto industry in Japan, which is home to the world's top-selling carmaker Toyota as well as Honda, Nissan and other giants. The government is seeking relief from 25 percent US vehicle tariffs and other trade levies due to come into force on August 1, but no agreement has been reached despite several rounds of talks. Japan posted a trade surplus in the three months in June, with exports exceeding the value of imports by 153.1 billion yen ($1.0 billion). Exports to the United States fell 11.4 percent on-year to 1.7 trillion yen, with autos down 26.7 percent, finance ministry data showed. Shipments of pharmaceutical drugs and auto parts also contributed to the decline, the ministry said. Japan's trade surplus with the United States shrank 22.9 percent year-on-year in June - the second straight monthly contraction, even as imports from the country slipped 2.0 percent. Japan, a key US ally and its biggest investor, is subject to the same 10 percent baseline tariffs imposed on most nations. Trump also announced an additional 24 percent 'reciprocal' toll on Japan in early April but later paused it along with similar measures on other countries. But earlier this month he informed a number of trading partners of new country-specific rates, hitting Japan with a 25-percent tax.
Qatar Tribune
a day ago
- Qatar Tribune
Asian shares mixed after Nvidia nudges Nasdaq to a record
Agencies Shares in Asia traded mixed on Wednesday after an update on U.S. inflation pulled most Wall Street stocks lower, though gains for Nvidia pushed the Nasdaq to another record. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 edged less than 0.1% lower, to 39,663.40. Investors are focusing on the potential impact of an election for the Upper House of Parliament on Sunday that is expected to lead to tax cuts and higher spending as lawmakers try to restore the waning popularity of the ruling Liberal Democrats. Worries over a deterioration in Japan's fiscal health have pushed yields of long-term Japanese government bonds to their highest levels in years. 'What's at stake isn't simply which party hands out the biggest bundle of goodies. It's whether the walls holding up Japan's house of debt can withstand another round of fiscal fireworks…' Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary. Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.1% to 24,618.23 while the Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.1% to 3,503.78. South Korea's Kospi lost 0.9% to 3,186.38 and in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.8% to 8,561.80. Taiwan's Taiex jumped 0.9% and India's Sensex was flat. Thailand's SET also was little changed. In Jakarta, shares rose 0.4% after President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that he plans to tariff imports from Indonesia at 19%, while American goods sent to the Southeast Asian country will face no tariffs. Trump also said Indonesia committed to buying U.S. energy, agricultural products and aircraft. On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.4% to 6,243.76, but stayed near its all-time high set last week, as 90% of the stocks within the index fell. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1% to 44, Nasdaq composite rose 0.2% to a record 20,677.80 thanks to Nvidia, the market's most influential stock. Nvidia said the U.S. government has assured it that licenses will be granted for its H20 chip, used for artificial intelligence, again and that deliveries will hopefully begin soon. Its 4% gain was by far the strongest force pushing upward on the S&P 500. Stocks of big U.S. banks were mixed following their latest profit reports. JPMorgan Chase slipped 0.7% despite reporting a stronger profit than analysts expected, as CEO Jamie Dimon warned of risks to the economy because of tariffs and other concerns. Citigroup rose 3.7% following its better-than-expected profit report. But Wells Fargo fell 5.5% following its own, as it trimmed its forecast for an important way that it makes money. A report showed inflation in the United States accelerated to 2.7% last month from 2.4% in May as prices rose for clothes, toys and other goods that usually are imported. Economists say prices may be rising because of stiff tariffs that President Donald Trump has proposed on other countries. Treasury yields yo-yoed after the report and then began rising. The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed to 4.48% from 4.43% late Monday. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which more closely tracks expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do with short-term interest rates, rose to 3.95% from 3.90%. Higher inflation could inhibit interest rate cuts by the Fed. It has been keeping rates on hold this year after cutting them at the end of last year. That's because lower rates can give inflation more fuel, along with a boost for the economy. Wall Street loves lower rates because they goose prices higher for stocks and other investments, and Trump himself has been clamoring for the Fed to cut more quickly. Fed Chair Jerome Powell, though, has been adamant that he wants to wait for more data about how tariffs affect the economy and inflation. Following Tuesday's inflation report, traders are still overwhelmingly betting that the Fed will cut its main interest rate by the end of the year. But they pulled back their bets on the number of potential cuts, according to data from CME Group.
