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Travel Tips & HonneYouTubecomments on a 2023 video

¥30,000 for Wasted Meat: What Japanese Diners Say About All-You-Can-Eat Leftover Fees

Short answer

Mostly yes: Japanese diners back leftover fees at all-you-can-eat spots — order only what you can finish, per a 2,999-comment debate.

1,844 likes on the most-liked comment2,999-comment thread · 2023 video

By Rakutaro · Tokyo, Japan

Japan Etiquette (What Japanese People Actually Do)NationwideYakiniku

A 2023 video about a diner told to pay ¥30,000 after dumping meat in the grill's charcoal (rather than finishing it without rice) drew a 2,999-comment debate, and the top comment (1,844 likes) says it plainly: no sympathy for the customer, legal or not. The verdict among Japanese commenters is close to unanimous — wasting food is wrong no matter whose fault the rice shortage was, and several argue the fee itself is fair since a ruined grill and cleanup cost the restaurant real money. A few push back that the restaurant shares some blame for running out, but even they call tossing the meat childish. One restaurant worker (248 likes) says staff talk about guests like this behind their backs, and asks diners to simply order a little at a time.

These comments are from a video published in 2023. Prices, rules and crowds may have moved since; anything we checked ourselves is marked with a source.

“I can't understand the nerve to waste food over such a petty reason. Whether it's legal or not, I have zero sympathy for the customer.”

そんなしょーもない理由で食べ物を粗末にする神経が理解できん。法的にどうかとか関係なく客側に一切同情できん

— @smokwt4039
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What Japanese people said — picked from the top 100 of 2,999 comments

  • No rice is the restaurant's fault, but throwing the meat away instead of eating it is a completely different thing.

    米がないのは悪いけどだからって食べずに捨てるは違いすぎる

    — @カルボうどん0130948 likes

  • No rice is bad too, but throwing the meat into the charcoal shows a scary lack of common sense. It's a child's thinking.

    米が無いも悪いけど 肉を炭に捨てる常識の無さが怖い 子供の発想だ

    — @スプーキー1801,611 likes

  • The customer who wasted the food is the one in the wrong, so all I feel is serves-them-right.

    食べ物を粗末にした客が悪いのでざまーとしか思わん

    — @そう-t4c1,029 likes

  • Taking it as a given that the restaurant was at fault, the customer still failed as a human being.

    店側が悪いのは大前提として、客は人としてダメ

    — @lawto_order92 likes

  • I used to manage an all-you-can-eat restaurant. Four men came in right before last order, 30 minutes before closing, and ordered 20 servings of pork loin. We could tell from how much they'd already eaten and drunk that they wouldn't finish it, so we told them up front that leftovers would be charged extra before we served it. Sure enough, they left over 10 servings, and we made them pay the regular à la carte price for every one of them.

    昔、食べ放題の店長やってて、男4人で来て、ラストオーダー＆閉店30分前で豚ロースを20人前追加してきた。ただ、こちらも食べ切れないだらうというのは、どのぐらい食べ飲みしたかも分かるので、残したら追加料金発生する旨伝えて提供。案の定、10人前以上のこしたので、その10人前の単品料金を確り払っていただきました。

    — @grandmavicky26263 likes

  • I can't understand the nerve to throw food away for a reason like that — more than the ¥30,000 fine itself.

    3万円の罰金よりもそんな理由で食べ物を捨てる神経が理解出来ない。

    — @nanaya七八1,583 likes

  • I don't know if it was beef or pork, but I want them to apologize to the animal that meat came from. No rice is the restaurant's fault, sure, but dumping it in the charcoal grill makes no sense.

    とりあえず牛か豚か知らんけどそのお肉だった生き物に謝って欲しいし米ないのは店側の落ち度だし七輪に捨てるのは訳分からん。

    — @YANMA-oy2yz168 likes

  • "I threw it away instead of eating it because leftovers cost extra" — if you think that excuse is going to fly, please never eat out again.

    食べ残しは追加料金がかかるから食べずに捨てました これが罷り通ると思ってんのなら二度と外食しないでほしいな

    — @hnt9932882 likes

  • Maybe go back and relearn what "itadakimasu" actually means.

    「いただきます」の意味から勉強しなおそう。

    — @tomtin74502 likes

What Japanese people do instead

  • I work part-time at a restaurant. People like this get talked about behind their backs — "what kind of parents raised them," "is this what they're like at home," "poor kids" — and staff get especially irritated when someone leaves a lot of food. Throwing food away costs the restaurant money too, and it's a food-waste problem, so please just order a little at a time, only as much as you can actually eat.

    飲食店バイトです こういう人は裏でめっちゃ悪口言われてます 「どんな親に育てられたんだ」「家でもこんな感じなのかな」「子ども可哀想」とか、特に食べ残しが多いとイライラしています 捨てるのにもお金がかかるしフードロスの問題もあるから、食べられる分だけ少しずつ注文してほしいです

    — @あんだーばー-y9i248 likes

FAQ

Do all-you-can-eat restaurants in Japan charge extra for leftovers?
Many do, especially for meat and sushi. The fee is meant to cover food waste and cleanup, and Japanese commenters largely see it as fair as long as the restaurant explains the policy up front. Rules and amounts vary by restaurant, so check the sign or menu before you order.
Is it illegal to leave food at an all-you-can-eat restaurant in Japan?
No, there's no national law against it. In this case the ¥30,000 charge covered a ruined bed of charcoal and extra cleanup after a customer dumped meat into the grill rather than pay a leftover fee, and several commenters called that a fair price for the damage. Leftover fees themselves are restaurant policy, not a legal requirement.
What's the polite way to avoid a leftover fee at an all-you-can-eat place?
Order a little at a time instead of everything at once, and stop once you're full. One restaurant worker (248 likes) says staff get frustrated when big plates come back untouched, and asks diners to order only as much as they can actually finish.

Japanese people also answered

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