In Japan, Leave Origami as a Tip

Yuki Tatsumi, a former waiter at a Japanese tavern in Kyoto, is an avid collector of tiny origami. In order to accrue the largest number possible, he embarked on a country-wide search, asking restaurant owners to hold onto their origami to send to him. In total, 185 restaurants responded to his request. ‘Many restaurant owners who helped me told me that they now find them more gratifying than a cash tip’, explains Yuki Tatsumi.

This way of showing appreciation is highly welcomed in Japan. It is also a means of maintaining human relationships in a society where machines reign. ‘If you were to enter a restaurant where everything is done by a machine, I don’t think you would make an origami gift to thank the machine’, says the former waiter. ‘They are objects made to give to real people.’

Yuki Tatsumi’s project culminated in an exhibition of his collection in a gallery in Tokyo and was turned into a book, Japanese Tips – Soul of Japan on the Table.