Did you know that in many restaurants in Japan, customers are not allowed to take leftovers home? At the same time, the Japanese hate wastefulness and fight to use any resource as wisely as possible.

In Japanese culture, mochi-kaeri (taking home) leftovers is frowned upon. It is not deeply engrained in the tradition and is done rather by weirdos and originals. Only shops offer - or even allow (!!!) - customers dining in a restaurant to take leftovers home.

Why? Many restaurants worry about food poisoning. Restaurants that mishandle food in Japan are often the target of fierce attacks. And this can affect their profits or even shut them down completely.

For example, remember the ‘sushi terrorism’, when teenagers licked chopsticks or saucepans in sushi restaurants directly on camera, which turned hundreds of customers away from approaching a public place. Everyone is just afraid that if Japanese people eat improperly stored food for the morning, they'll get sick and file a complaint on the internet.

So either eat here in front of us or leave.

The second reason is portion size control. In the US, the ‘take home leftovers’ culture is very developed because it's customary to put on huge portions (and it's nice and weird at the same time). I can't eat those in one sitting.

In contrast, portion sizes in Japanese restaurants tend to be more modest. That said, simple restaurants are very inexpensive because the restaurant is constantly balancing price/size/composition.

Particularly infuriating is the lack of culture (and even the ability) to take leftovers out with the Chinese. Chinese restaurants are very willing to give leftovers with you and may even put something nice as a gift to keep you coming back. And when the Chinese come to Japan, they are in for a real culture shock.

The biggest online scandal of ‘not carrying the food’ you paid for was in 2018. And since then, the clumsy Japanese chains have started to change at least something in their policies. And especially foreign-food restaurants and Chinese cafe chains, since foreigners are more likely to walk in.

The government says there's too much plastic waste in Japan. Disposable plates, spoons, containers that are needed for takeaway portions will have to be exported because there are no recycling methods. Or incinerate it, which releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Japan has taken steps to limit plastic production, such as passing a national law requiring retailers to charge for plastic bags. Recently, by the way, a British man had a row in Seven Elevens with a Japanese cashier who asked him to pay separately for a bag. And got caught by the police.

Restaurants do not want the stress of paying extra for containers and choose just not to give. Although in the cafeteria, for example, you can get takeaway cakes.

I myself did not know about this problem for a long time, because in Japan, on the one hand it is delicious, of course, but on the other hand, the portions are really ridiculous for a European. There was never anything left at the bottom of the plate.