Pay it forward Japanese style

Kottke.org linked to this guy’s Japanese holiday story about a cool cafe concept.

They guy bought an orange juice – and was given an apple cider and bag of lollies… he was confused, and asked the cafe staff what had happened. The cafe had this rule”

At this cafe, you get what the person before you ordered. The next person gets what you ordered.

Which is pretty bizarre.

Before they left the guys who found this place got into the spirit of things.

“Mike went up to the cafe, slapped down a couple thousand yen (~$25), and ordered a little bit of everything: some ice cream, some snacks, some candy, some drinks, a Japanese horn-of-mysterious-plenty intentionally set up as a shocking surprise for the next lucky customer. (After his order, Mike received single iced coffee.)

As we walked away from the cafe, with just the right amount of delay, we heard an extremely excited “arigato goazimasu!! thank you so much!!” yelled in our direction, from an ecstatic mom and her equally excited young son. They truly appreciated the surprise.”

Here’s a translation of the rules from the cafe…

  1. Let’s treat the next person. What to treat them with? It’s your choice.
  2. Even if it’s a group of friends or a family, please form a single-file line. Also, you can’t buy twice in a row.
  3. Please enjoy what you get, even if you hate it. (If you really, really hate it, let’s quietly give it to another while saying, “It’s my treat…”)
  4. Let’s say “Thank You! (Gochihosama)” if you find the person with your Ogori cafe card.
  5. We can’t issue a receipt.