alt Hacker NewsMy experience in Japan is quite the opposite. A good place gets 3 stars because it's up to expectations, while any perceived slight from staff can easily get that down to 2 stars. Reviews of 4 stars or more from locals tend to correspond to some special experience.
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jen729w • today at 2:34 AM
Yes! Great point. Japan seems to be the only place where people actually rate sensibly.
Which, of course it is. There's a reason we're going back there, again, next week.
Japan is unique in the world for the stringency of its service standards, in my experience. However, if you use western review services instead of their domestic versions, all bets are off. Google Maps, Yelp, etc., are packed with stuff tourists love, which no local would touch. Things that locals find unbelievably rude get 5 stars on Yelp.
Tourists think that this stuff is still higher quality than what is found outside of Japan (which it usually is), but things have definitely begun to degrade with the tourist boom.