Spreading Red Shame to the World! The “Lousy Contents” of the crab restaurant vs. Japanese tourist trouble in Singapore

We are very annoyed by this. We have tried our best to avoid any misunderstanding. ……

This was the lament of a clerk at the Clarke Quay branch of the Paradise Group, a well-known chain of seafood restaurants in Singapore.

The restaurant opened a few months ago in one of Singapore’s most popular tourist areas. Soon after its opening, however, a dispute broke out between a group of Japanese tourists and the restaurant over the price of crab dishes. The local police became involved.

The disturbance was widely reported not only in the local media but also in the English-language media, and was picked up by a well-known Japanese influencer, resulting in the spread of international news. The local coverage revealed the sad state of the Japanese people.

The trouble occurred in August of this year. A group of Japanese tourists visited a restaurant and ate Singapore’s famous chili crab dish. When paying the bill, they were charged approximately 140,000 yen. A woman in the Japanese tourist group said, “When the restaurant recommended the crab, the price per 100 grams was not fully explained to us. We were also not informed of the total weight of the crab,” she protested. The group also reported the incident to the police, and the restaurant manager settled the matter by reducing the bill to 10,000 yen, less than one-tenth of the original price.

The restaurant, which decided that its reputation was at stake because of the police action, posted on its Facebook page on September 20 that it was “deeply disappointed by these inaccurate claims” and that “it seems as if they are aimed at destroying the reputation of our restaurant,” and issued an “official statement The restaurant has released an “official statement” with a picture of the surveillance camera.

According to the “Official Opinion,” the restaurant twice informed the group of Japanese tourists that the Alaskan king crab they ordered was priced at approximately 3,000 yen per 100 grams, and then announced that the total weight of the crab was 3.5 kg. To prevent misidentification, the group of Japanese tourists took pictures when the whole live crab was brought to their table before cooking.

The restaurant manager gave a substantial discount because one of the customers said he had no money to pay, the “official statement” explained. Paradise Group operates about 50 restaurants in Singapore, as well as in Malaysia, China, Indonesia, and other countries. The Clarke Quay restaurant in question is located in the middle of an internationally famous tourist spot and is always crowded with tourists.

When we actually visited the restaurant, we found that the “chili crab,” Singapore’s famous crab boiled in sweet and spicy sauce and eaten in its shell, was exquisite. If the tourist group’s claim is true, they may have the impression that they were ripped off, but it sounds more plausible to a Japanese person familiar with the area who claims, “It is impossible for a restaurant in Singapore, where strict legal compliance is required, to rip off customers in an international tourist spot.

According to the waiter at the beginning of this article, a group of Japanese tourists were dining together on a terrace facing the river. Although they ” didn’t seem to be yelling or screaming,”“one woman was making a strong complaint.

A look at the menu shows that the price of the Alaskan King Crab in question is listed as “Seasonal Price (market price). According to the waiter, “the most commonly ordered crabs are mud crabs, which are small in size and cost about 1,100 to 1,200 yen for 100 grams,” and “the price per 100 grams of Alaskan king crab at the time of the trouble was two to three times this amount.

After this trouble was widely spread, there was a wave of accusations against the Japanese tourist group on X (formerly Twitter), such as “Please stop embarrassing Japan,” and “It is common knowledge that if you eat crab in a group in Singapore, it costs more than 20,000 yen per person. A Japanese person familiar with the situation in Singapore said the following.

The Japanese tourist group’s claim that they were not told that the price of the crab was for 100 grams is ridiculous. Here in Singapore, there is no way you can eat a large crab for several thousand yen.

Considering the fact that he mentioned that he did not have any money with him when he paid the bill, we can only assume that he came to Singapore with a wrong preconceived notion that “prices in Asia are cheaper than in Japan. Prices in Singapore are higher than in Japan, and even if this were Thailand, for example, the recent depreciation of the yen would cost several tens of thousands of yen for a restaurant bill if you enter as a group. The Japanese yen has weakened to that extent.”

Japan’s ranking has plummeted in the “lost 30 years. It is the height of ignorance to assume that one can travel cheaply in Asia based on past “success experiences. At the very least, it would be nice to have proper manners and common-sense behavior so as not to damage the international credibility that the Japanese people have built up over the years. ……