Why You Can't Take Uneaten Food from Restaurants in Japan (6 photos)

Did you know that many restaurants in Japan do not allow customers to take home leftovers? At the same time, the Japanese hate wastefulness and strive with all their might to use any resource as wisely as possible.





But restaurants are not interested

Japanese culture does not approve of mochi-kaeri (taking home) leftovers. This is not deeply rooted in tradition and is more likely to be done by eccentrics and eccentrics. Only stores offer — or even allow (!!!) — customers dining in a restaurant to take home leftovers.

Why? Many restaurants are worried about food poisoning. Restaurants that handle food improperly in Japan are often the target of vicious attacks. And this can affect their profits or even lead to their closure.



At the same time, the government is fighting to reduce food waste

For example, remember the "sushi terrorism" when teenagers licked chopsticks or saucers in sushi restaurants right in front of the camera, which discouraged hundreds of customers from approaching the public place. Everyone is simply afraid that if the Japanese eat improperly stored food the next morning, they will get sick and write a complaint on the Internet.

So either eat here in front of us, or leave.

The second reason is portion control. In the US, the "take home leftovers" culture is very developed, because it is customary to put huge portions on it (and this is both pleasant and strange). I will not eat such in one sitting.





Here is a large portion of food, it is quite normal to eat for dinner

On the contrary, portion sizes in Japanese restaurants are usually more modest. But at the same time, in simple restaurants it is very inexpensive, because the restaurant constantly balances with price/size/composition.

What is especially annoying is the lack of culture (and even the ability) to take the leftovers home with you from the Chinese. In Chinese restaurants, they are very willing to give you leftovers to take away and may even put something nice as a gift so that you come back. And when the Chinese come to Japan, they are in for a real culture shock.



This is a package from a supermarket with ready-made food. Why can you take it in a container there, but not in a restaurant?!

The Chinese will re-educate anyone

The biggest scandal on the Internet with "not taking away food" that you paid for was in 2018. And since then, the sluggish Japanese chains have begun to change at least something in their policies. And especially restaurants with foreign food and Chinese cafe chains, because they are most often visited by foreigners.

The government says that Japan has too much plastic waste. Disposable plates, spoons, containers that are needed for takeaway portions will have to be exported, because there are no ways to recycle them. Or they can be burned, and this leads to the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.



A Japanese "take away" sign photographed... IN A CHINESE RESTAURANT

Japan has taken steps to limit plastic production, for example, by passing a national law requiring vendors to charge for plastic bags. Incidentally, a British man recently caused a scandal at a Seven-Eleven with a Japanese cashier who asked him to pay for a bag separately. And he ended up in the police.

Restaurants don't want the stress of paying extra for containers and simply not giving away their choice. Although, for example, you can take cakes to go in the cafeteria.



Again - cakes can be taken away, but fried cod - no. Where is the logic