Japanese price sneakyness, gah

[masaegu]

Originally Posted by MMM

Tazzy, you are coming across as a little narrow-minded.

Not just a little. OP is definitely one of the Top Three in the Narrow-minded Department among the Japan-residing foreigners on here. He is totally incapable of adjusting to this culture and all he does is complain about it on the internet night and day.

[tazzy]

Originally Posted by masaegu

Not just a little. OP is definitely one of the Top Three in the Narrow-minded Department among the Japan-residing foreigners on here. He is totally incapable of adjusting to this culture and all he does is complain about it on the internet night and day.

err what? I hardly ever post on here...and its not narrow minded to dislike the bad sides of life, which yes, vary from country to country- I dislike the negative aspects of life back home too.
I don't think narrow minded is quite the word you're looking for here.
Not that you care, I strongly suspect you're just trolling here in bumping up an old thread for a dig after having a few other digs elsewhere.

[RickOShay]

Originally Posted by tazzy

Where I come from countries have union agreements, minimum wage laws, etc... people working in restaurants and pubs aren't making awesome money but they can survive just fine.
Tips should be just that, tips, given if the service was particularly good or if you've a particularly large bill (its just dickish to pay for a £96 meal with friends then sit around waiting for your £4 back, even if the service wasn't that great).
When somewhere includes a service charge they're just being knobs, so overly presumptious on your tip. It also really reduces the incentive for the staff to actually provide good service if they're getting their tip anyway.

I've never encountered a bar with a cover charge elsewhere in the world- unless this bar had live music or naked ladies or somesuch.

And...yep. In this occasion I thought it was one of those order at the counter bars. It really was just the bar which had a few seats at it then two little tables .

Well if you did not get anything at that bar then I would raise a stink, but still let's be real here, most of the time we are talking about a 2-400 yen charge which really is not that big of a deal. yeah if you are on a tight budget i could see it being annoying, but at the same time there are tons of places in japan that yo can go and drink and not have to worry about the seat charge, so the solution is simple find those places and go there. If you think the charge is a rip then do not patron the places that charge you. It is really simple, and you do have that option because not everywhere in japan charges like that. So find the places that dont charge or just do the most economical thing you can do in japan and not in any other country I know of and do a all you can drink deal, I have never lost at one of those and if you are really bitching about the cost of a seat charge vs actual drinks then you should look into those deals.