TL;DR — Japanese trains are quiet because of a deeply rooted cultural value: don’t cause inconvenience to others. Conversation is fine — just keep your voice down. Avoid spreading your legs across seats, and skip rush hour if you can. These small things go a long way. That Moment of Mild Irritation I was heading into the city one day when a fairly large group of foreign tourists boarded the train. ...
TL;DR — At most sento (public bathhouses), onsen (hot springs), and pools in Japan, visitors with tattoos are turned away. The core reason is a long-standing social association between tattoos and yakuza (organized crime). Attitudes are slowly shifting, but rules at many facilities remain strict. My Childhood Memories of the Sento When I was a kid, I’d occasionally be taken to the neighborhood sento (銭湯, public bathhouse). We had a perfectly good bath at home, so why go to a public one? Looking back, I think it was the special feeling of it — soaking in that wide, communal tub, then having a cold drink afterwards. It was a little break from everyday routine. ...
TL;DR — Japanese people often feel guilty about leaving food because of mottainai — a cultural sense of regret over waste. It’s not a strict rule, though, and no one at a restaurant will say a word if you don’t finish your meal. In someone’s home or at a small gathering, a simple “I’m full, I’m sorry I couldn’t finish” is all you need. Growing Up with Empty Plates As a child, whenever I left food on my plate at home, I’d hear it: “Stop being picky — eat everything!” Days when something I didn’t like showed up on the table were genuinely rough. ...
TL;DR — Slurping ramen or soba in Japan is not rude — it is not bad manners either. In fact, slurping has become the completely natural way to eat noodles here. In the West, making noise while eating is considered poor table manners, so visitors often get a surprise when they first hear the sound in a Japanese noodle shop. But in Japan, there is almost no sense that slurping noodles equals bad manners. At a ramen or soba restaurant, feel free to slurp away and enjoy. ...
TL;DR — There are two dining manners in Japan that tend to surprise foreigners the most. First, you are expected to lift your rice bowl or soup bowl and hold it in your hand while eating — leaving it on the table and leaning your face down toward it is called “dog-eating” (inu-gui) and is considered bad manners. Second, there are several chopstick taboos tied to funeral imagery, most notably sticking chopsticks upright in rice (hotoke-bashi) and passing food from chopsticks to chopsticks (hashi-watashi). As a fun contrast, in Korea lifting your bowl is actually the rude thing to do — the exact opposite of Japanese etiquette. ...
TL;DR — In Japan, sharing dishes from a large communal plate is completely normal. “Torizuke” (取り分け) means portioning food from a shared plate onto your own individual plate. Whether you use serving chopsticks (torihashi) depends on the setting and the household, but the sense of gathering around food and sharing it together is deeply rooted in Japanese food culture. My Family Table Was All About Big Shared Plates When I think back to meals at my parents’ house, the table was always lined with several dishes piled high on large platters. ...
TL;DR — No, “いただきます” is not a prayer. It’s a uniquely Japanese expression of gratitude — toward the lives of the ingredients and the people who prepared the meal. “ごちそうさまでした” carries the same spirit and is said after eating. Neither is mandatory, but saying them will almost always make the Japanese people around you happy. These Words Became Second Nature In Japan, people say “いただきます” before a meal and “ごちそうさまでした” after. I have no memory of learning it — I must have picked it up from my parents without even noticing. ...
TL;DR — When a Japanese person avoids your gaze instead of smiling back, it’s not coldness or irritation — it’s a cultural habit of not engaging with strangers. Speak to them, and they’ll almost certainly smile right back. My Mom Scolded Me for Staring — When I Was a Kid When I was little, I was on a bus staring at a stranger standing nearby. My mom leaned over and whispered to me. ...
TL;DR — Most Japanese people wear masks by personal choice — for hay fever relief, flu prevention, warmth, or simply comfort — not because they’re sick. The habit took root in the 1980s hay fever boom and has been growing ever since. Japanese People Really Do Wear Masks a Lot Writing my article on hay fever got me thinking about how high the mask-wearing rate is in Japan. As a Japanese person myself, it doesn’t feel strange to me at all — but I started to wonder if it must look pretty bizarre to people from other countries. ...
TL;DR — Cutting in line in Japan isn’t just bad manners — it’s seen as actively disrupting the social order, and it leaves a strongly negative impression on everyone nearby. One line per register is the unspoken rule, and it’s taken very seriously. Why I Started This Blog It happened at a souvenir shop in a busy tourist area. There were a few Japanese people around, but most of the customers were foreign visitors. ...