The British pavilion at the World Exposition in Osaka has improved the quality of its 5,000 yen afternoon tea set, with the drinks now served in ceramics instead of paper cups, following online criticism.
"We have improved a part of our service after it has been brought to our attention that we failed to fully meet expectations," Carolyn Davidson, Britain's commissioner general at the expo, said in a video post on Thursday on the embassy's account on X.
"The afternoon tea is a valuable tradition that symbolizes British culture," Davidson said in Japanese, adding that they will continue to work toward providing a more "gratifying experience" to visitors.
Users took to social media to express their disappointment over how the afternoon tea was being served, referring to how tea was served in a paper cup with a tea bag or how scones were fewer than what was written on the menu.
The menu says the "Four Nations Heritage Afternoon Tea" would include sandwiches, scones and cakes.
© KYODO
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Newgirlintown
I can’t believe they did that in the first place. I’ve been to England a couple of times and the food and drink was always much better than anything I had in Japan. Why on earth did they do that?!
Asiaman7
More, including photos, from our friends in Singapore at the Straits Times.
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OSAKA - A 5,000 yen (S$45) afternoon tea set served at the British pavilion at the Osaka Expo has left Japanese social media aghast at its perfunctory paper cups, sending Britain’s embassy into damage-control mode.
“We have improved our service after some feedback saying we have failed to live up to expectations”, a British Embassy official in Tokyo said in a video posted on X on May 1.
“Afternoon tea is an important part of our tradition that symbolises British culture,” she said in Japanese.
Earlier this week, a post deploring the overall quality of the pavilion’s tea set – including “a tea bag stuck in a paper cup” – went viral on X.
Many Japanese users reacted with shock, expressing their perhaps misplaced faith in a quintessential British afternoon tea set.
The paper cups have since been replaced by ceramics, the embassy official clarified in the video.
She said she hoped visitors to Expo 2025 would “deepen their interest in the richness and profundity of our culture”.
Online, reactions haven’t been all sweet.
“As a Brit resident in Japan, it’s embarrassing, & 5,000 yen!,” one X user commented on the embassy’s video.
“Japanese believe us Brits hold high standards when it comes to tea,” the user said.
The tea debacle is not the only thing to go awry at this year’s World Expo, held in Osaka in western Japan until mid-October.
Last week, part of a motor propeller fell off one of the several drone-like “flying cars” being demonstrated at the event, with no injuries reported, Japanese media said.
Self-driving shuttle bus services, with drivers on board to ensure safety, were also paused after one of them had what reports described as a minor collision with a wall.
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https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/britain-responds-after-expo-2025s-45-afternoon-tea-brews-outrage
Bobby Franks
Props to the British Embassy for embracing the criticism and fixing the issue instead of attacking the critics.
JeffLee
Paper cups, no teapots...welcome to Starmer's new Britain.
diagonalslip
" it has been brought to our attention "..... they didn't notice? that they were being tacky and cheap? dear oh dear! glad I left Blighty 50 years ago.... and not just because of paper cups at Expo.
Abe234
JeffLeeToday 07:16 am JST
Paper cups, no teapots...welcome to Starmer's new Britain.
cause they’re cleaning up the Tory mess of the past 15 years. And how was Cameron Britain? Boris’s Britain? Mays Britain? Tuss’s Britain? Sunak’s Britain? And Brexit Britain? How was the NHS? Pot holes? Food banks? But nope! Let’s blame Starmer! Austerity had nothing to do with it?
The afternoon tea picture was awful. The hotels in Japan had a better afternoon tea for 3000 yen and the Manager should be ashamed. But then again
Clearly you’ve not been to the land of kebab pizzas, deep fried mars bars, frozen foods, fried foods, and supersize me people.
Give me good affordable sushi, good ramen, some great yakitori, Takoyaki, okonomiyaki, pork cutlet anytime over pie and chips. (Although I could do with good fish and chips now and then) but after two weeks of British grub, omg I’m ready to come back and get away from fried everything.
Mr Kipling
If you served my 86 year old mother a "cup" of tea in a paper cup you would end up wearing it!
¥5,000 for that is a rip off. But that is what the expo is about.
Concerned Citizen
This utter failure on so prominent a stage might seem minor, but I believe it is significant. So sad to see the gradual decline in the once great nation slowly destroyed by traitors within.
wallace
¥5,000 for tea and scones. No mention of clotted cream and 100% strawberry jam.
wallace
Fish&Chips and a mug of tea is a perfect meal.
kurisupisu
Well, the food at the Expo can hardly be called good value.
A 5000 yen set comprising a tea bag and a paper cup is taking the piss though.
However,
It’s possible to bring all the food needed to the event as we did.
Namahage
I'm Cornish,so this is a huge public embarrassment for my homeland.
Shame on the U.K pavillion.
If you fancy 'thunder and lightning ',just go to West Cornwall.
kurisupisu
It’s truly a reflection of the ‘decline of empire’ when such elementary mistakes are made.
Still, now theJapanese are set to experience the dire state of life in the UK if they can afford the rip off prices there for a stay.
wallace
Britain has not been an empire since the end of WW2. No decline, just an ending.
Fountain
¥5000 for a cup of tea, sandwich, scone and cake?
What a rip-off. Might have guessed these pavilions would be price gouging as much as they can.
I’m going to guess that the sandwich, scone and cake will be nothing to write home about either.
If people stopped paying these ridiculous prices, they wouldn’t be able to charge them anymore.
Fountain
I’m sure that’s because there is no clotted cream and 100% jam included.
grc
Newgirlintown and Mt Kipling have said it all
garypen
¥5000 is nuts for what is basically a snack to hold oneself over until dinner.
A weekday ticket to the Expo itself is only ¥6000.
MilesTeg
UK food better? Yeah only if you pay a lot for it. You can get a good lunch in Japan for 1,000yen. What'll that get you in the UK? A sloppy, crappy kebab? I enjoyed my visit but it certainly wasn't for the food.
Harry_Gatto
You obviously didn't stray very far from your local shopping precinct. There are some excellent restaurants serving good old-fashioned British food and not a frying pan in sight if you know how and where to look.
OssanAmerica
I've got family living in UK. And having been there myself countless times I find it totally bewildering that anyone with functioning taste buds could reach that conclusion. The food quality in the UK has always been the butt end of jokes by those on the Continent for ages. And if it actually tastes good in the UK, it's usually something brought home from their Empire days. Enjoy your cucumber sandwich.
wallace
What do posters even mean by "British Food?" Britain is a multi-cultural society with food from all nations. The top favorites are sushi and Indian curry. Popular cuisines in the UK include Indian, Italian, Chinese, Thai, and many others. There are also numerous restaurants providing traditional British cuisine.
A reasonable budget for a two-course dinner with a drink in a mid-range restaurant outside of London could be around £30 ( per person). However, costs can range from under £25 per person at cheaper establishments to over £100 per person in fine dining restaurants.
The average cost of dinner in Japan can range from about ¥2,000 to ¥5,000 per person.
kohakuebisu
This sounds like a comment from someone who works there. The cups they have introduced and described as an "improvement" on the paper ones are still bulk buy coffee ones with "Nespresso" prominently printed on them. The ambassador just came out with the usual passive aggressive non-apology type apology you get from arrogant types incapable of taking responsibility. "We are sorry if it didn't meet your expectations". The problem was not people who've paid 5000 yen's expectations. The problem was a clown-car full of British representatives humiliating Britain with a slapdash version of what is supposed to be a high-class posh treat. Pretty much every Japanese person serving English-style afternoon tea does it a hundred times better than this. They would never use paper cups, frozen cakes, and a tray from Ikea.
falseflagsteve
They are a disgrace and an embarrassment, Heads must roll over this disaster.