All agreed!

In fact, in Japan, it doesn't matter how good the service was - you don't tip! It's actually treated as an insult (i.e. why are you bribing / paying me more to do my job?). Profuse thanks is all you can offer if you so desire.

I treat tipping in the US as a cultural norm. Just as if you went to a Muslim country it is your responsibility to respect their norms in dressing conservatively and not showing signs of affection in public.

I'm a little bit over all the arguments of, "It's not my fault that your employer pays you peanuts; why should I be responsible for the shortfall?" Whilst in theory those people are right, they are also missing an entirely separate point.

At the same time, however, I'd rather have staff that provide good service because they know it's a good thing to do, not that they'll get an extra 10-15% out of me if they don't do it. It's a subtle but important distinction for me, but unfortunately I think the US tipping culture coupled with a possible assumed naivety of foreigners breeds an attitude of the latter type.

The funny part to all of this is if the tipping culture was not there but all prices rose by 15-20% with a note to all patrons that their waiter would receive that 15-20% as a "commission" (i.e. same as a tip, just different words), then would everyone be more or less "happier" and we wouldn't have all these arguments? If you really like the service, offer your extra 10-15% as you see fit. Of course, if the service was less than satisfactory, you'd need to request the manager to remove the "commission" (if other avenues of resolution also went sour).