Skip to main content
TheSkylane
Post a role →
Layover guideTokyo · HND · NRT

Tipping in Tokyo

Not expected anywhere you will go, and pushing it is the awkward move rather than the generous one.

Markus Spiske / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0
All of Tokyo

Japan's tourism authority states plainly that it is not common to tip for services such as those provided in bars, cafes, restaurants, taxis and hotels.

There is a domestic custom called kokorozuke, a gratuity given in particular situations, but it is not the Western tip and it is not expected of visitors.

If you do give something, it goes in a small cash envelope bought from a convenience store, a stationery store or a 100 yen shop, and it is done discreetly. Cash handed over directly is not the form.

Private guides and interpreters used to international practice are the one group JNTO flags as sometimes accepting a tip, and even there it is not expected.

  1. JNTO: tipping in Japan · checked 2026-09-03

The rest of Tokyo

The whole guide
Getting out of the airportHaneda has two rail operators and a sub-twenty-minute run into town. Narita's fastest published run is thirty-six minutes, and it is a committed ride whichever train you take.Ride-hailingApps dispatch licensed taxis to marked stands that are not where the taxi rank is, and at Narita the fixed fare is the headline number.Local laws that catch crew outThe medicine in your washbag is the offence most likely to end a Tokyo layover in custody.Staying connectedFree Wi-Fi across all three Haneda terminals, but the SIM counters keep shop hours and Narita's are all landside.WeatherA twenty-one degree swing across the year, and an autumn that is wetter than the rainy season.Eating near the crew hotelsCards are widely taken but not universally, so carry cash, and the table manners that would be rude at home are not rude here.What to buyThe tax-free system changes on 1 November 2026 from an exemption at the till to a refund confirmed by Customs at departure.