What's up with Japanese restaurants where you can't take leftovers?  This has happened to me in many restaurants, again tonite in Kyoto. We had a plate of shrimp fried rice we wanted to bring home and they said no way. No bag, no box, no foil to wrap it in. It happened once in an Italian restaurant too. What do Japanese have against taking home leftovers?

That's because higher humidity. Japan's higher humidity let foods to go bad earlier than U.S. or some northern countries. Leftover foods are touched by cutlery many times, people talk over these food, etc., so there are more chances to get poisoned than "to go" foods that are packed just after cook. Healthecare department (government) doesn't recommend restaurants to allow their customers to bring leftovers back home.

This is just a recommendation and isn't a law, so few restaurants allow doggy bag, but most don't. Because once their doggy bagged food causes any food poisoning problem, it is subject to penalty. It is usually 2 days to 1 week enforced business suspension and will get helthcare department's inspection.

Some major media (news papers) had started a campaign years ago to claim that food poisoning by doggy bagged food isn't the problem of restaurants so healthcare department should ease such penalty rule to save food / environment. I personally agree this opinion because doggy bag is common in most Asian countries such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand where humidity is higher than Japan, but the campaign hadn't gotton people's sympathy and healthcare department still do the same way.

Thank you for explaining, Okumura. I had attributed it to restaurant management but I see now it goes much higher than that. Not to badmouth our host country, but sometimes they have this overwhelming "Japan is unique" attitude, and do things no other country does. An example is not allowing use of phones on buses, trains and ferries. I don't just mean talking on phones, but even texting or surfing. They seem to believe it's harmful to those around you even though something like 3,000,000,000 non-Japanese do it safely all the time.

Wow, didn't realize not to surf or text on the train!

I thought it was okay to text and such (just not talk) unless you're sitting in a certain area? Usually the ends of the trains marked for the elderly and pregnant?


I didn't know about left overs. We've only taken them home a handful of times. I did run into the H1N1 scare last summer where they wouldn't touch the leftovers (you had to pack them yourself, eh) because of  it.

I have heard the same thing that Okumura explained to you.  A Japanese friend of mine told me last year that several years back, this Italian Restaurant near Zushi Beach stopped giving out "doggy bags."  The food would sit in a hot car for hours and spoil before the drive home.  Many people ended up getting sick because of this.  It made the restaurant look bad, even though it really wasn't their fault.  Once they stopped giving out doggy bags, the food poisoning problem went away.  

As for the whole texting on the train thing, the Japanese do it all the time.  Every now and then, I see them talking on their cell phones on the train, too.  They usually try to be considerate about it by covering their mouth and phone w/ their other hand while they talk.  I think people find it most offensive when you are shouting or talking loudly on your cell phone w/ no regard to those around you.....but then again, that's just annoying no matter where you are.  

Ate at yummy Cocos Curry tonight, and they have a picture of a cellphone with a big X over it on their tables. I thought that was awesome! It always startles me when I go back to the US and I see these people standing talking to themselves. Then as I walk by I realize they have those headsets. So weird.

I used to believe the following: unless you are a doctor/nurse/cop/medic/someone on call responsible for saving other people, you're not important enough to have a cellphone. Call 'em later when you get home.

Then I moved over here and that all changed

Just wait until you see a group of teenagers sitting around in a group... texting each other.

Surabaya in Mores will bag up left overs.

Doc

Cell phones in trains... There are 2 things.

1. Health problem

In Japan, it is widely believed that cell phone may cause serious problem to whom using heart pace maker. This has a historical backgrround. Around 1995 when cell phone became popular not limited in rich but in most ordinal people, a study was released. It said that a heart pace maker is affected from cell phone if they are closer than 22cm (about 7 inches) that causes serious problem. How can two persons who don't know each other are closer than 22cm? Not often, so this isn't a problem unless people are packed like Japanese commuter trains. Suppose I and a person who uses heart pace maker get the same packed train, my cell phone can be closer than 22cm to his/her pace maker. And we can't recognize a person from his/her outlook if he/she uses heart pace maker.
It is known that about 0.25% of people use heart pace maker in Japan. A train car carry more than 100 person in peak hours, so it is expected that there is one person who uses pace maker on the same train car every 4 days if you commute in packed train everyday.

Then people started not to use cell phone in trains.

But this manner is too strict, then that was eased years later. People can use cell phones in most part of trains, but not in priority seat area. (Indicated by signs. Some train cars indicates by yellow color bar as well.)
Person who uses heart pace maker are encourged to ride train in such area so that radio interference can be avoided.

Questions are:

- Is the study correct? (I doubt it. No serious health hazard have been reported since cell phone got popularity in Japan 15 years ago.)
- Do people really turn their cell phone off in priority seat area? (I did see few people do this, but not common at all.)
- Most of 0.25% of people who uses pace maker are acutually elder people who don't use packed train often. So in actual packed train situation, how many pace maker users are in a train car? "0" usually I guess.

There are some questions above, but again, this is widely believed in Japan and people don't want to harm others, at least "officially".

2. Quiet attitude

As you may know, Japanese people usually think "Being quiet in public space is good manner." (I know there are MANY execptions such as high school students..., but basically we do.)
So talking on phone in public area is considered bad manner. Especially in trains, buses, elevator cars, or such narrow area.

This is another reason for people away from talking on phones in trains even they are out of priority area. And this is reason emails, browsing internet are ok. (Text isn't common in Japan. Most Japanese cell phones are internet enabled and we use internet email instead of text.)

Thank you once again, Okumura, for clearing everything up.

I'm so happy Okumura shares so many interesting facets of Japanese culture with us =)

Ditto all. Okumura, your comments and insights are incredibly helpful to understanding Japanese culture. Thank you! Here in Kyoto (I'm vacationing) the signs on the train were very clear that cell phones could not be used near the priority seating area. So I started to figure out what the issue was.

In Iwakuni (where I live) they are very strict. First I will explain: I am totally AGAINST talking on a cell phone in public areas like bus, train or restaurant, just due to courtesy. But other people don't feel the same. I saw a young Japanese man make a gaijin stop surfing on his phone on a bus. I was astonished. I rode a ferry to Miyajima Island, and even on the ferry no phone is allowed. They are very strict down there!