Do the dishes and dine for free at this Tokyo eatery

Tokyo - Customers can either opt for a free meal or donate their share to another diner.

A restaurant in Tokyo is offering a free dining option to its customers, and in turn they have to do the dishes. Mirai Shokudo, a Japanese restaurant in Tokyo's Jinbocho district, has come up with this unique idea where customers are asked to work for a 50-minute shift cleaning, serving, and working at the cash register. They can can then eat free of charge.
Once the 50-minute shift is completed, the customer can either opt to have the free meal straightaway or donate their share of the meal to another hungry diner in the form of a meal ticket.
The restaurant is the brainchild of Sekai Kobayashi, a 33-year-old ex-programmer who wanted the restaurant to be 'inclusive' of people who cannot afford to eat out. Kobayashi opened Mirai Shokudo in 2016 where he states that it is open to everyone including visitors from overseas, according to Japanese travel magazine Matcha. The innovative restaurant claims to have already 'employed' 500 people for the unique payback scheme wherein customers visiting in the day are required to take orders and clear plates, while those on the night shift are asked to wash dishes.
"My colleagues really liked the lunches I made for them. This led me to strongly consider opening my own restaurant. Afterwards, I received vocational training at a leading restaurant chain and other places before opening Mirai Shokudo," The Sun quoted Sekai as saying in China Daily.
She added, "Those looking for jobs might feel that making the wrong choice could ruin the rest of their lives. That'll eventually lead you in a direction that you feel strongly about. That's what happened for me."
Sekai is the only permanent employee in the restaurant and relies on voluntary diners to help out with maintaining the makanai - free meal system.
The female entrepreneur added that people choose to use the system for various reasons. Some are just hungry while others want to gain experience in order to start a restaurant or learn cooking. The restaurant is in the Teishoku style, which means that it has a set meal. However, Sekai said that customers can make special requests.