Originally Posted by
biggestbopper
I continue to be amazed by some FTers evidently burning desire to tip in countries where it is not appropriate, e.g., Japan and China.
Take a look at this both amusing and agitated threat about tipping in China.
http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthrea...hlight=tipping
If the Japanese culture says don't tip ... why do it?
There are exceptions to this rule as with anything else. When you stay at a ryokan, it is customary to tip the hostess who take care of you once you get to you room, in a nice envelope of course.
We stayed at the very nice Kagaya at Wakura Onsen on the Noto Hanto (Noto Peninsula) in Kanazawa prefecture. They assigned us a hostess with fluent English. Of course we did not know to tip but she took care of us at every turn anyway, from waking us in the morning to settle us in for the night.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...l&pagewanted=3
http://www.jtbgmt.com/japannow/zoom/index64.asp
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lear_sh...7594107031046/
You can see the English speaking Masako san in the last URL (not our pix).