Comment by LeoPanthera
3 hours ago
"If we want to order food in a country where we don't know the language at all, we're forced to go into the kitchen and use a see-and-point interface. With a little understanding of the language, we can point at menus to select our dinner from the dining room. But language allows us to discuss exactly what we would like to eat with the waiter or chef."
Ironically, Japanese menus almost universally have pictures of the food, and often (amazingly detailed) plastic models* of the dish in the window.
I frequently wish this was adopted by western restaurants, as being surprised by what actually arrives on my plate after I order is a regular occurrence.
I'm fully onboard with see-and-point.
Japanese menus do overwhelmingly include photos, and most of the bigger restaurants have moved to tablets with, of course, images.
The plastic 3d models are mostly in tourist areas.
There are so many restaurants in Japan (especially sushi, soba, tonkatsu, ramen, and izakaya) that have no images whatsoever. Often a handwritten menu or even wall-mounted menus are all that are available.
It's a confirmation bias thing: people come to Japan and go to restaurants with photos on the menu and food models, they think it represents all of Japan. They don't read Japanese, so they may not even know that they walking past a great restaurant without any food displayed outside nor images on menus inside.
> pictures of the food
It may partly a legal thing: Japanese law is big on not-misleading consumers. Depictions are considered close to formal promises of what you'll actually receive, or at least actual ingredients that went into it.
This is opposed to, say... an artistic free-expression of a shared aspirational dream of what the product's platonic ideal, and/or a bunch of things which are meant to evoke the feelings they hope you have in your subjective heart after your joyous nonrefundable purchase.
I'm not sure how well it could be adopted and adapted for American law, but I wish someone'd try.
Note that this is mostly true in cheaper/chain restaurants. Overwhelming majority of izakayas have the menu's to be handwritten / written on the wall without any pictures.
Terry Gillam's take...
https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:720/format:webp/1*NFPp...
problem with doing the models in western restaurants is they'd have to get them redone every 6 months when they get a new chef because I swear I haven't seen a menu stay consistent for longer than that in ages.