Psychology on order: How restaurants get you to spend more

People all over the world like to be mimicked. Hence, if you repeat customers orders back to them and they will be more likely to like the waitress, and come to the restaurant again.

Some of the above is Western and incorrect in Japan.

Words Matter -> Images matter. Japanese people like models and pictures because they think in images and the same logic as that above applies. Japanese food should be on display, and the kitchen too should be visible not hidden away. Language should be kept to a minimum and or made public.

"Giving more choices also just increases the odds that something will appeal to people. " Giving more choice has merits and demerits. People who are arrogant about their choices (Westerners) like to be given choices to a degree but too many causes fear of making the wrong choice and less purchases even among Westerners. https://www.flickr.com/photos/nihonbunka/16270321565/

People who humble about their choices (Japanese) are more likely to want to leave choice making to the service provider, as is traditional in "Omonenashi" situations (Kaiseki for instance) where the service providers job is to make the right choices by reading the heart of the customer. https://www.flickr.com/photos/nihonbunka/15928783 Conversely, omotenashi may be very unwelcome to Westerners. https://www.flickr.com/photos/nihonbunka/15996023245

"Choices" here-above refers to linguistic orders. Japanese like to be given choice in the visual domain, as is evidenced by the number of make your own foods restaurants (shabu-shabu, okonomi-yaki, yaki-niku, monjayaki). Again, this opportunity to be autonomous in the visual/corporeal sphere may be unwelcome to Westerners. A French visitor quipped that Japanese restaurants make you cook your own food.

Cannot compare America to any other country. All countries are unique.

I'm a sucker and they know it. Just a matter of what kind of sucker I am and how to rope my gullible rear end in. Amazon does it quite well online. The bakery I go to have staff that are masters at it.

People who are arrogant about their choices (Westerners) like to be given choices...

Before accusing all Westerners of arrogance, perhaps it would be more accurate to note that offering choices is a cultural phenomenon. Businesses in cultures that are comfortable with individualism offer their clients more options as it is expected of them. It's as valid a way of doing business as offering a set menu as is routinely done in Japan.

Nor is acceptance of a set menu a touchstone of humility in the client. Leaving the choice to the service provider is accepted in Japan because there is (shoganai) no other option. Just try to get an extra egg in a nabe even if you are willing to pay for it. It's not going to happen.

That the service provider is making the 'right choice' by 'reading the heart of the customer' is bunk. Let's not romanticize that marketing ploy. It merely simplifies things for the service provider who can churn out exactly the same meal for every client on any given night. (Even if it is as superb as the finest kaiseki on 400 year-old plates.) No need to take clients' preferences, dietary limitations or allergies into account. In Japan the attitude is that if you have those, eat at home. You're not a customer we value.

"Cannot compare America to any other country. All countries are unique."

(Rolls Eyes in Amusement) I can compare America (Mexico America? Brazil America? Peru America? Canada America? Xyz America?) to any country I want. How correct the comparison may be is another thing. This article displayed multiple similarities in the universal human condition when reacting to effective marketing.

Yes, all countries have unique features.

Before accusing all Westerners of arrogance, I did not say all, but there is a lot of research to show that Westerners are arrogant. The jargon used is "self-enhancement." The research on Japanese is controversial. Heine says that they don't need to be arrogant, others (Brown, Sedikides) say that they are arrogant about different traits, others that they are arrogant but they hide it (Yamaguchi).

That the service provider is making the 'right choice' by 'reading the heart of the customer' is bunk. I agree that it often is bunk, but at the same time, I think that an attempt is made, and that Japanese customers want service providers to make that attempt, as argued by Doi in the first chapter of "Anatomy of Dependence," where he explained his unhappiness at being told to "help himself."

That said, and as I say above, I don't think that the Japanese lack individuality or self-love, but that they express their individuality and self-love, in a different, non-verbal visual way, hence for example the biggest difference between Japanese (and other East Asians) and Americans: levels of obesity. https://www.flickr.com/photos/nihonbunka/15587880