The Art of Leaving Origami as a Tip

In Japan, it isn’t customary to leave waiters a tip. However there are other means of showing appreciation towards a dining experience, sometimes in the guise of a small paper origami as a sign of thanks.

Yuki Tatsumi, a former waiter in a Japanese tavern in Kyoto is an avid collector of them. In order to accrue the largest number possible, he embarked on a country-wide search, asking restaurant owners to hold onto their origami gifts in order to send them to him. In total 185 restaurants responded to his request, many of them, according to Tatsumi, said that they have since seen a real value in them, considering them more gratifying than a cash tip.

It might seem difficult to believe, especially to those who are accustomed to a cash-tipping society, but this means of showing appreciation is something that is seemingly reciprocally enjoyed. It is a means of maintaining a human bond in a world where machines and cash exchange reigns. ‘When you enter a restaurant and everything is mechanised’, says Tatsumi. ‘Origami restores a human artisanal link between people’. Tatsumi’s expansive project culminated in an exhibition of his collection in a Tokyo gallery.