A little while back, the Tofugu team went on an excursion to Japan. One of the things we really wanted to see was the Mori building. More specifically, we wanted to ascend the Mori building and then look at everything not inside it. Being one of the best city-views Japan had to offer, we thought we’d give it a shot; unfortunately on our way there, we were accosted by an overly friendly Coldstone employee who helped us find our way there…by physically leading us to the foot of the building. At this point, we knew we had to go back and get some ice cream goodness. The guy helped us out, right?

On our way back to Coldstone, we started up a discussion. Like most Coldstones, do they accept tips in exchange for singing? Normally, the answer to this would be easy. In America, Coldstone is synonymous with singing for money. It’s one of the attractions that makes a Coldstone so fun! For a small tip you can finally feel good about you and your boring state job. Still, in Japan, the question of tipping is a little more difficult.

Tipping is not part of the culture in Japan. You do not tip for meals, you do not tip taxi drivers, and you do not tip hairdressers. There are a couple of exceptions to this rule, though, most of which you won’t run into. If you hire a chauffeur for a hired car, you might give him 500-1000 yen (the latter number being for an entire day of driving). The only other exception I can think of is when you receive a very special service in a hotel (not “special.” Get your mind out of the gutter). Someone would have to go way out of their way to help you, and it would have to be a very abnormal situation. Once again, something that most people won’t experience.

Of course, in the end, we found out whether or not Japanese Coldstone will sing for free. And the answer is…you’ll have to watch the video!

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