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My 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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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.

Enjoy your trip! The weather has finally cooled down, so you're coming at a good time.

Japanese customers are very harsh with ratings on Google as well. When I was living in Japan I learned that restaurants with like 4.2 stars were often really good. It's calibrated differently inareas with a lot of foreign tourists though.

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