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The story
A personal experience shared on Maidona News has struck a nerve: after going out to eat with a friend, one person clearly ate and drank far more, yet still insisted on splitting the bill evenly — leaving the other person quietly annoyed. With a large group, nobody would think twice about it, but with just two people, the imbalance becomes impossible to ignore. The story drew a huge response on 5channel’s News Express+ board, where opinions clashed between “obviously whoever drank more should pay more” and “when you’re sharing big plates of food, doing separate checks just isn’t realistic” — sparking a broader debate over what counts as a fair way to split a bill.
“Split the bill” even though the other person ate and drank more → Wouldn’t care with a big group, but with just two of us… it’s just irritating. “Of course I’d want them to pay more,” “I wouldn’t want to go out with someone like that”
Thu, Sep 17, 6:50 AM JST
Maidona News
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Read the original article here
What people said
1. Melon
2. Melon
3. Melon
😂 Why is this guy ordering nothing but melon?
Can't think of any other reaction to that.
Guys like that are usually the ones who invited you out in the first place.
She's probably just bad at saying no. Depending on who it is, my friend ends up paying more — the other person's just inviting her out when they want to drink but are trying to save money. She knows exactly what's going on, but she'll just keep quietly stewing over it until she finally snaps one day.
The "Moya Moya Ball" (a toy that turns cloudy when squeezed — a pun on the word)
It's more about the drink costs, really.
With someone of the same sex: if it's a ticket-vending place or a family restaurant, pay separately. If there's alcohol, split it evenly.
With someone of the opposite sex, if there's alcohol: split it evenly (no fussing over odd change).
If you're dating: you treat them.
Anyone who whines and complains about it — don't invite them again, and don't go with them.
With sake or wine you just keep knocking it back and easily blow past a few thousand yen, so I switch to something stronger like bourbon to keep the cost down lol
Back in the Showa era, not drinking was the weird thing, so that makes sense.
True lol
Everyone just orders whatever and shares it anyway lol
Same thought lol. The only way separate checks would work is if nobody touches what the other person ordered and everyone only eats their own food — but that's never going to happen.
Those guys are probably just imagining what a drinking party with friends is like. Don't make me spell it out…
Then just only go to all-you-can-eat, all-you-can-drink places?
Depends on the amount.
Among my friends, if the bill's around 12,000 yen, someone might say 'you can just give me 5,000' and cover the other 7,000 themselves.
But when it's obviously a 7:3 split in the other person's favor… that's a bit much.
That's true, but if you've known each other a long time and you're stewing over it, just say something directly! Posting about it on social media instead is dumb.
I see, so in the Showa era splitting evenly was normal because everyone drank. These days, I seriously never hear of non-drinkers paying the same amount. Whether it's a big group or a small one, it's standard for non-drinkers to at least pay 1,000 yen less.
I think that's true nowadays. Most of my friends drink, but if just one person is having non-alcoholic drinks, we often just don't charge them at all (not because we're generous — it's more that we're drunk and stop caring about the math lol).
People who are that stingy about it should just choose restaurants that serve individual portions instead of shared plates.
Do you even understand what 'round up anything under 1,000 yen' means?
I get it.
I'm just saying we don't bother with details that fine. It's not like we're reciting the Kojiki (Japan's oldest historical chronicle — i.e., no need to be that meticulous) lol
Nah, plenty of people do offer to pay more. It depends on the balance.
Background and key points of the debate
Differing feelings about splitting the bill tend to come down to whether people assume an “even split” or one weighted by how much each person actually ate and drank. That mismatch in assumptions was a big source of friction in the thread — when some argued “just do separate checks,” others pushed back that at izakayas, where set courses and shared big plates are the norm, precise individual billing simply isn’t practical. Others pointed to generational differences: back when nearly everyone drank, splitting evenly felt natural, but now that more people don’t drink or drink only a little, paying “more if you drank more” is becoming the more common approach — several posters shared personal experience backing this up. It’s worth noting the original article is based on one poster’s personal experience and isn’t presenting a definitive “right answer” for how to split a bill. Several comments also hint that even when people are unhappy about an unequal burden, the dynamics of the relationship can make it hard to speak up in the moment.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5channel (News Express+) thread “‘Split the bill’ even though the other person ate and drank more → Wouldn’t care with a big group, but with just two of us… it’s just irritating.”
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