Restaurants in Japan are the same as in Poland in their main purpose - they serve food. But they serve food in a slightly different way. Here’s a short list of few things that I absolutely love about Japanese restaurants.

 #1 Wet towels 

O-shibori (おしぼり) - a thing that’s in every single restaurant, whether it’s a small sushi bar or a continental theme fancy place, is a wet towel. A customer can just sit, take his towel and clean his hands before eating, no need to go to the bathroom and wait in a queue for this. The towels vary, it can be a disposable small piece of wet cloth in a foil packet, or an actual moist towel (warm or cold), but it’s always there, ready to keep your hands clean.

 #2 Payment at the door 

Word of explanation: I’m used to the European style (for obvious reasons) where in a restaurant a waiter takes an order and then, when the meal is already eaten and the customer is ready to leave, the waiter brings the receipt to the table and leaves, so that the customer can put the money on a designed place and leave. Waiter comes back after the customer left, or sometimes when the customer is getting ready, depending on the place. This makes an actual problem with how to signal to a waiter that you want to pay? Shouting for the waiter to come is impolite in Poland. Sure there are some subtle signs in five stars restaurant where everything is working like in a clock, but nobody uses them in normal diners in the neighbourhood. So we’re usually stuck with “look pointedly at your waiter (let’s hope he’s in your line of sight) until he gets a hint that we’re ready to pay.” Not very effective, especially if someone’s in a hurry (but as I pointed in my sushi bar story a while ago, in Europe nobody should be in a rush in a restaurant, or suggest so, since that’s incongruous).

Now that we have a context: here’s how it’s brilliantly solved in Japan: you don’t wait for the waiter. When you’re done eating, you stand up, take your things, take your bill and go to the cash register that’s by the exit and give them your receipt (or number) and money. Simple as that. Of course there’s a variation in some sushi bars where first a waiter has to count your plates, but that’s easy too, since it’s all right to just call the waiter in Japan.

 #3 Pictures in menu 

Every single English menu I saw in Japan had pictures of each and every meal they offered. Maybe not drinks, but all meals were shown on photos with caption in English, and usually (but not always) a short list of ingredients. There was no trouble at all with ordering since I always knew exactly what I’ll get. And the picture always looked exactly like the served food. Just to compare, an extreme case: I've seen restaurants in Europe that have cryptic menus, that’s actually a simple list of names like “duck on a cloud” or “gold chicken”, which forces customers to guess, try luck, order something with a nice name, or ask a waiter what’s what.

 #4 Menu or replicas outside 

Have you ever seen this nice looking restaurant you’d love to try, but you’re afraid that it’s actually a fancy place with prices far away from your wallet’s range? So you’re afraid to go and check, because what if you get in and realise you don’t want to pay so much and would have to leave in embarrassment? Not a problem in Japan, because restaurant there shows their menu outside. You can stand outside the restaurant and check what they have, and for what price, make sure that you’re interested before sitting behind a table. It’s very popular to put plastic food replicas in windows too. Sometimes it’s not the full menu that’s displayed, just some parts of it, but it’s still enough to check the type of food and price ranges.

 #5 Betsu betsu - split the bill

When ordering with friends, it’s always (or almost always) all right to split the bill. Either the waiter asks about the type of payment (together or split), or customer can ask for it by the counter. Still, it’s almost always a possibility and not a problem. For me, the waiter either remembered who ordered what, or read the list of ordered meals and waited for us to say who ordered it. Another option was simply us listing what’s ours. Anyway, if we wished so, we always paid for what we’ve ordered, not for someone’s else food.

 Again, in my country it’s usually for some reason a huge problem for the waiter (either because he doesn’t want to go to this effort, or the system doesn’t allow this, I don’t know) and in many cases this request was denied. Not to mention that it’s also seen as something strange. If you’re sitting by one table it’s expected to be one bill. Waiter leaves you with it so you can figure out how to pay by yourselves.

 #6 Water / tea 

In every food serving place a customer would get a glass of water for free. Always. That’s not the end: the waiter would refill it (even if you’ve just drunk half of it) without you asking, and you would get it even if you ordered something else to drink. In some places you have to take the water by yourself, and in other they serve green tea instead, but there’s always something to keep you hydrated. Which is just such a nice and thoughtful thing.

 #7 No interruptions 

 Waiters in Japanese restaurant won’t come to your table unless you call them. They won’t drop by to check if everything is fine, or if you enjoy the meal or maybe want to order more. You won’t be disturbed or forced to answer a question while in the middle of munching your sushi. Now while European system has its advantages, with customer feeling well-cared for and having an opportunity to chat with waiter, Japanese system has this advantage of customer having the guarantee of peace during meal.

 #8 Table for one 

First question asked in the restaurant is for how many people you need a table. The nice thing in Japan is that eating in a restaurant is not seen as only a social activity when you meet with some people and spend time with them while eating. Restaurant is also seen as a place where people go to eat, nothing more. So it’s absolutely okay to go there by yourself and ask for a table for one person. There would be no frowning, no surprise, no need to feel sad or out of place. It’s all right, they are still very happy to see you. Enjoy your meal :)

Is there something else you’d like to add to this list? What do you like in restaurants in Japan? Feel free to comment!