The issue of "meoktwi," people who flee without paying for their food, is becoming a social problem in Japan as well.
On the 28th, Japan's Fuji News Network (FNN) Prime Online reported a story about six customers, who appeared to be office workers, fleeing without paying at an izakaya in Tokyo. At an izakaya located in Akihabara, Tokyo, around 6 p.m. on the 8th, six men estimated to be in their 30s to 50s, who looked like salarymen, ordered food. They ordered a total of 17,700 yen (approximately 160,000 KRW) worth of dishes including beef tongue, karaage, and assorted sashimi, and ate for two hours.
CCTV footage showed a man manipulating an automatic payment machine installed near the entrance. The automatic payment machine works by entering the order receipt, which then displays the payment amount, similar to a parking payment system. One of the six started the payment process at the automatic payment machine near the entrance, but it turned out to be a staged act; they only pretended to pay.
The manager of the affected establishment said, "It seemed like they didn't know how to pay, so I never thought they wouldn't pay for the food. I can only think that they deliberately left without paying. It's pitiful." The manager appealed for payment from the customers as soon as possible while also sharing the incident on social media.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
