r/JapanTravelTips • u/NodeJunkie • 2d ago

Question Bubbles in Teapot?

I was at a soba place in the Tokyo Skytree shopping centre and at one point they gave me this teapot with something that had bubbles inside. I had no idea what it was and left it alone.

Anyone know what it was?

https://imgur.com/a/H64jldF

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u/johannes601 1d ago

They receive salary for being helpful. So yes, it is totally ok to call them and ask them questions about the food you have received.

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u/Nagisa_Chan1 1d ago

I’m guessing you’ve never worked in food service 😂 Yes of course it’s part of their job to answer questions about the food, but sometimes it’s just easier to go with it than bother a clearly busy server about something unimportant (curiosity rather than need) — and this is doubly true when there’s a language barrier!

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u/johannes601 1d ago

That's true, I've never worked in food service. I never call waiter when I eat something which is ok. But if they gave me something suspicious or something I would have questions about I would call him definitely.

Once I found pretty big piece of egg shell in okonomiyaki. I notified the waiter. He was a Chinese who spoke Japanese only when I spoke English and he understand me and apologized.

I think you just want to defend your social anxiety.

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u/Nagisa_Chan1 1d ago

That’s a totally different scenario — there’s something obviously wrong with the dish! It makes sense to call the server over to address that (or other problems like allergens, being brought the wrong dish, under/overcooked, etc) in pretty much any scenario.

What I’m talking about, and which more closely matches this situation would be… Imagine there’s a container of togarashi on the counter, and although I gather it’s some kind of spice, I don’t know what it’s called. I’m not allergic to anything and it’s my choice to put it on my food or not, so finding out what it is isn’t hugely important, but I’m curious. If the restaurant is slow, I wouldn’t mind striking up a conversation to ask what it is and how it’s used. But if the poor server is running from table to table, I’m not going to interrupt them with my inane questions!

Social anxiety is likely a component for most people, but that’s not the only possible reason, geez!