Eating out is always a…learning experience. After a couple disastrous (and expensive!) meals out as a family, Matt and I decided to meet for lunch at least once a week to scope out places BEFORE we brought any children along. A couple weeks ago, Matt and I went to eat at a yakiniku place where we grilled our own food. 
We walked in the door and were met by a chorus of greetings, all in Japanese. We paid as we entered, and the hostess showed us on a calculator how much our buffet meal would cost- ¥2200- about $28. (This is a great price as it includes drinks and service is included- no tipping here). At most yakiniku and buffet places, the receipt is often marked with the time you enter, and you have 60-120 minutes for all you can eat, depending on the restaurant. The young woman who seated us handed us two silver “plates” and spoke a mile a minute in Japanese, while we bowed, smiled, and nodded– we understood nothing.
Once we arrived at the table, she turned on the grill in the center of the table and she motioned toward the buffet. I noticed right away that there were pictures in our booth that showed how to put the meat on the grill and a warning that excessive leftovers would be charged (read: eat what you take!).
I looked from my silver table plate to the buffet stations and was torn—do I take my “plate” up there? It looked like there were little bowls and plates at each station. Is this for the grilled items after they come off the grill? I left the “plate” at the table and opted for a tray. The buffet included a variety of raw meat in the refrigerator case—some marked with a picture of a cow or a pig, but we were mostly left to ourselves to figure out what we might be getting. There were also vegetables cut, various noodles with pots of water for rewarming and broth, a few tempura (fried) items like little corndogs, and of course rice. I took a few pieces of meat that looked like steak and chicken, rice, raw veggies, and a kelp-wrapped cone of rice and peanuts.
Back at the table, I carefully used my tongs to put the meat on the grill. I ate my rice while it was cooking. When my grilled meat was done, I carefully placed it in my silver “plate.” We maneuvered through noodles, a little of the tempura, more meat and veggies, and the kelp-wrap (which I could not palate—sticky, chewy, and odd).
At the end of our meal, we were looking around to see what to do when we left, and Matt saw a man smoking and tapping his ash into the silver “plate.” Matt whispered to me, pointing at our now-used silver plates, “Those? They are ashtrays.” 
Horrified, we quietly giggled at ourselves. Seeing the pictures now, it seems ridiculous that we EVER thought they were for eating. Before judging though, notice how they are larger than most of the plates and bowls we used, and the hostess did hand them to us when we were seated. (See it there on the bottom right of the picture below?)
I am sure the kitchen dishwasher got a good laugh at our ashtray plates when they came back to the kitchen. I am happy to report that we ate a different buffet today and did not eat off any ashtrays (to my knowledge).