Episode #148: Why No Omotenshi From Some Chinese Retail Service In Tokyo

Tokyo is one of the most competitive service markets on earth. If customers feel ignored, unwelcome, or disappointed, they don’t complain — they simply walk five minutes to another option. That reality raises an urgent business question: when service fails in Tokyo, what is really happening, and what should the rest of us learn from it?

Service inconsistency often shows up most clearly in “all-Chinese staff” restaurants, where both servers and managers are Chinese and may not have grown up in Japan. In these cases, guests may experience:

• minimal smiling or warmth

• perfunctory, uninterested table service

• little attention to guest comfort or repeat business

• managers who don’t correct or coach frontline behavior

This can feel sharply out of step with Japanese service expectations, especially in a city shaped by omotenashi (Japanese-style hospitality that anticipates and exceeds customer needs).
Mini-summary: In Tokyo, service gaps stand out because local standards of omotenashi (hospitality) are exceptionally high.

What is omotenashi, and why does it matter so much in Japan?

Omotenashi (hospitality that is proactive, thoughtful, and exceeds expectations) is not just politeness. It includes:

• anticipating needs before customers ask

• making customers feel genuinely welcome

• refining small touchpoints that create comfort and trust

• viewing each guest as a long-term relationship, not a transaction

Tokyo diners are used to this baseline. When service lacks these signals, customers feel no emotional reason to return — even if the food is good.
Mini-summary: Omotenashi (hospitality) is a cultural expectation in Japan and a competitive advantage for any service business that delivers it.

If service can be great in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, why is it sometimes weaker in Japan?

The difference is not “Chinese service” in general. In many Chinese-majority regions, restaurant service is excellent, especially at higher price points. So the issue in Tokyo may be more specific:

1. Workforce profile
   Some staff in Japan may be students working near full time, without formal hospitality training or intent to build a career in service.

2. Limited exposure to Japanese service norms
   If staff mainly eat in Chinese communities or work only inside Chinese-language environments, they may not organically absorb Japanese service habits.

3. Management gaps
   Managers may underestimate how fiercely competitive Tokyo’s dining market is — and how much repeaters (loyal repeat customers) drive profitability.

Mini-summary: The gap is likely situational — driven by training, exposure, and management — not by nationality alone.

Tokyo has more Michelin-starred restaurants than Paris, and endless alternatives at every price point. That means:

• customers “vote with their feet” immediately

• loyalty must be earned through experience, not just product

• lifetime customer value depends on emotional connection

A diner who feels cared for comes back. A diner who feels dismissed disappears forever.
Mini-summary: In Tokyo, weak service quickly destroys repeater value; strong service builds it fast.

If you criticize service in others, you must audit your own standards too — especially as a gaishikei (foreign-run company).

Key reflection questions:

• Are we operating by our home-country service habits instead of Japan-based expectations?

• Do our clients feel personally valued, or politely processed?

• Are we tracking repeater rates and continuity of buying behavior?

• Do we coach frontline staff on anticipating needs, not just reacting?

Japanese service can sometimes feel polite yet impersonal. But compared to disengaged service, customers often prefer polite-and-robotic over indifferent-and-rough.
Mini-summary: Foreign companies must adapt to omotenashi (hospitality) expectations or risk losing trust quietly.

A great model is a restaurant where guests feel like family over time. Personalized hospitality includes:

• remembering regulars and their preferences

• greeting customers as individuals, not table numbers

• making warmth a standard, not a bonus

• creating consistent atmosphere even when the owner isn’t present

That’s how repeat business becomes “natural,” not forced.
Mini-summary: The highest form of omotenashi (hospitality) is not just excellence — it’s belonging.

Try a practical self-audit:

1. Observe world-class service
   Visit a high-end kaiseki (traditional multi-course Japanese fine dining) restaurant, ideally in Kyoto, or a Toraya (famous Japanese traditional sweets shop and café).
   Notice timing, tone, anticipation, and refinement.

2. Break down your customer journey
   List every touchpoint: first contact, welcome, delivery, follow-up, renewal, complaint handling.

3. Ask “where can we anticipate more?”
   Add proactive steps that make customers say, “They thought of that before I did.”

4. Commit to fast improvement
   Service culture changes through visible coaching, not slogans.

Mini-summary: Omotenashi (hospitality) improves through observation, breakdown of touchpoints, anticipation, and rapid iteration.

• Omotenashi (hospitality that anticipates needs) is the baseline expectation in Tokyo service markets.

• Service failures are usually about training, exposure, and management, not nationality.

• In Tokyo, repeater value is everything — bad service kills loyalty instantly.

• The best response to seeing poor service is to audit and upgrade your own customer experience.

Founded in the U.S. in 1912, Dale Carnegie Training has supported individuals and companies worldwide for over a century in leadership, sales, presentation, executive coaching, and DEI. Our Tokyo office, established in 1963, has been empowering both Japanese and multinational corporate clients ever since.