International Travel: To Tip Or Not To Tip

Above, a Tokyo taxi. No tip is expected or required. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Every country has their own customs concerning business transactions. That extends right down to whether or not to tip a cab driver, waiter (or waitress), barmaid or anyone else.

In many countries, gratuities are added into the price of a meal. Some have even outlawed tipping.

TravelDailyNews has an article on the subject of international tipping.

They begin with:

Tipping while travelling can be confusing, differs by country and doesn’t always depend on service quality. Wego, the leading travel search site in the Asia Pacific and Middle East, revealed where and when you should tip while on the road.

In Japan, there is no tipping.

“Knowing which countries where you should leave a tip is just as important as knowing which countries not to,” said Joachim Holte, Chief Marketing Officer for Wego. 

“In Argentina for example, tipping is actually illegal, however, waiters often expect to be tipped by foreigners so if you were to tip, discretion is advised. In the US, low wage earners in the service industry are reliant on tipping to balance out their income, yet in Romania, tips are often declined and in Japan, tipping is considered offensive.” 

The article has a nice graphic from Wego. You may want to right-click it and save it for future reference.

In case you're in Japan and forget what the tipping customs there are, The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan covers tipping on page 9.

To read the article, go here.