This can manifest itself in interesting ways. I once was with a friend in Tokyo, and it was hot and we just wanted a cool place to hang out for a couple of hours. We went into a restaurant that was nearly empty, and took full advantage of the "unlimited soft drink refills" policy, and ordered no food. So, we were there for about two hours, and the bill was 500 yen each or something like that. The waitstaff kept coming by and giving us refills, without complaint. We wouldn't have done this had the restaurant been busy, but we were almost the only ones in there. In the US, I'd feel really guilty about that, and would probably have a pissed-off waiter. Then I realized why it wasn't a problem in Japan: the waitstaff (and all other service personnel) are paid a reasonable hourly wage and don't rely on tips. What do they care if we don't order food? In the US, a waiter would feel that they were doing a lot of work for almost no pay in such a situation.