Many foreign tourists who come to Japan try to understand Japanese manners and customs. From the Japanese perspective, I am very happy that you will understand us so. However, if you are nervous that you have to abide by our rules, that concern is unnecessary. We hope that you relax and enjoy Japan. Please feel free to think about it. On this page, I will introduce Japanese manners and customs. I do not want you to learn Japanese manners and customs hard. I am hoping that you will be interested in Japan’s manners and customs and look forward to more coming to Japan.
Table of Contents
If possible please enjoy Japanese manners and customs
Let me show you concretely about the main manners and customs of the Japanese people.
Japanese bowing
When you arrive in Japan, you will first notice that Japanese bow frequently. Bowing is deeply rooted in the lives of the Japanese people. We are not used to hugging even to close friends. I think that you do not see the sight of Japanese hugging while you are staying in Japan. The Japanese are not cold people. Japanese people expressed their familiarity and respect for others by bowing. The following movie will tell you very well about Japanese bowing.
Interestingly, this Japanese bowing habit has an effect on animals living in Japan. The deer living in Nara Park in Nara City will surely bow if you bow!
Line up neatly
In Japan, we will arrange a line neatly when we take a train or participate in an event. We know that if we make a row we can fair hope to fulfill without fighting.
For example, when we get on the train at the station home, we will wait for the train side by side. When the train comes, people come from the train first. We will get on the train in turn afterwards.
Of course, young people line up in the queue. They line up politely, no matter what shape they look.
Take off your shoes in a Japanese style house
Next, I will introduce about manners in Japanese style buildings. The following videos tell you very much about manners in Japanese style houses.
In Japanese style buildings, in many cases, tatami mats are laid. In order to not soil the tatami mats with soil foot, we take off the shoes at the entrance and enter the building.
In recent Japanese houses, carpet and board are increasing instead of tatami mats. However, the habit of taking off our shoes at the entrance is not lost.
If you stay at a Japanese style inn, you should remember to take off your shoes at the entrance. If you go to a Japanese restaurant or a Japanese style pub called “Izakaya”, you may be asked by the staff to take off your shoes at the entrance as well.
There are various manners in addition to this in a Japanese style building. However, I feel that for those who came from abroad Japanese people do not want to protect very detailed manners.
If you get something from the Japanese staff in Japan, if possible, please say “thank you” with a smile, it is enough in English. Japanese people can understand “Thank you” in English. If you show a smile to the Japanese, even if you do not know the fine manners of Japan, the Japanese will do a polite service.
Below are the recommended videos to know Japanese manners and customs. However, when you come to Japan, you do not have to master the local rules of Japanese introduced in these videos at all. We understand that you have your manner as well as we have manners. We also know that you do not know our manner well. So do not worry if you violate Japanese manner. There is a desire to make friends with other people in the essence of Japanese manners. We want to get along with you, so please enjoy Japan anyway!
Thank you for reading to the end.
