Tip Project: introducing tipping to Japan

It is a well-known fact that - apart from a few exceptions - tipping is quite uncommon in Japan. One company, Tip Project, backed by several Japanese celebrities including best-selling author Takafumi Horie, comedian Akihiro Nishino and YouTube personality Yoshihito Kamogashira, aims at introducing tipping to the Japanese hospitality industry which has been severely hit by the pandemic. The reactions have not always been positive.

This is a new Japanese enterprise aiming to introduce a tipping system into the country. The official homepage has photos of business executive and best-selling author Takafumi Horie (whom I once profiled for Wired Magazine), comedian Akihiro Nishino, and YouTuber Yoshihito Kamogashira. They seem to be the ones spearheading this effort, with the goal of it spreading throughout Japan. The Tip Project claims that introducing the practice into restaurants will increase staff motivation and help service industries that have been hit hard by COVID-19.

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Tip Project:

This is just some startup company trying to make a quick buck by introducing a (proprietary) "tipping system" where a portion of the proceeds will go back to the company for providing some minimal service of questionable value.

Tipping "culture" has no historical background in Japan, is considered annoying and confusing by people even in countries where it _does_ have a history, and in general is just an excuse for employers to push the brunt of their burden to customers rather than just simply paying their employees a living wage.

I'd be absolutely shocked if this takes off in Japan beyond a few places specifically recruited by the organizers of the "project" itself.

What about "donations' instead of "tips"?

Ugh, capitalism always manages to sniff out new ways to squeeze money out of people. I hope the endeavor fails miserably, this is something I appreciate about Japan, where there's a high standard of customer service despite the lack of tipping culture. In America employers in service fields have just used it as a legal excuse to hideously underpay their workforce. It's a poorly disguised tax

I don't put much weight on what tipping is supposed to mean or do, I just look at places where it's prevalent and ask how it's panned out. Greed is an invasive species that infects everywhere it's allowed to flourish.

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This, a hundred times over.

Tipping is ridiculous for all the reasons @nice gaijin mentions. I hate it and it doesn't improve service at all, you either have people who are going to do a lousy job anyway or you have people who are going to do a good job anyway. Its really getting out of hand here, tipping is expected pretty much everywhere now, even places that it would not have traditionally been expected you now see tipping jars or tipping on the receipts. Also, the percentage expected keeps going up, there are some places now that expect a 25% tip as a minimum. Absolutely ridiculous. No tipping is one of the things I really really like about Japan. You always know up-front what you will be paying.