Guide · Akihabara

Japanese Etiquette: A Complete Guide for First-Time Visitors, Written by a Tokyo Teacher and Tour Guide

One idea covers nearly all of it: shared space belongs to everyone in it, so you keep your noise, smell, mess and hurry small. Quiet trains, shoes off indoors, no tipping, carrying your rubbish — same rule, different room. You need ten habits, not a hundred rules. I am a Tokyo teacher and guide who meets visitors on day one.

You can practise all ten in a single morning. I guide anime tours in Akihabara most weeks, so I meet a lot of people on day one of their first trip. The fear is almost always the same, and it is almost never about the big things. Nobody is worried about insulting the Emperor. They are worried about the ticket gate, the chopsticks, the moment the shop staff says something they do not understand, and the feeling of being the loud foreigner everyone politely ignores.

This guide is the whole map. Each section gives you the short version and the reason behind it, and links to a longer guide when the topic deserves one.

What is the one idea behind Japanese etiquette?

The concept is meiwaku (迷惑) — roughly, being a nuisance to the people around you. Japanese public manners are mostly about not creating meiwaku: not making others move, wait, clean up, or listen to something they did not choose. It is not about elegance or ceremony. It is about lowering your footprint in a country where about 37 million people share the Greater Tokyo area.

Once you see it, everything else stops feeling arbitrary. Why are trains quiet? Because your phone call becomes everyone's phone call. Why do you take your shoes off? Because the floor is where people sit, sleep and put babies down. Why is there no tipping? Because good service is the standard, not something you buy an upgrade to. Why do you carry your rubbish? Because your rubbish is yours.

There is a second idea worth knowing, and it is the one that actually saves tourists: there is usually a system. A queue, a tray, a basket, a line painted on the platform, a shelf for your shoes. When you feel lost, look for the system before you improvise. Ninety percent of "how do I do this?" is answered by watching one local person for ten seconds.

What should I know before I land?

Ten habits cover most of your first week: be quiet on trains, queue where the lines are painted, carry your rubbish, do not tip, use two hands and the tray for money, take your shoes off where there is a step or a shelf, do not stick chopsticks upright in rice, ask before photographing people, keep to one side on escalators, and say sumimasen often.

None of this is hard. It is just unfamiliar, and unfamiliar things are exhausting on day one when you are also jet-lagged and cannot read the signs.

How do I behave on trains and subways?

Keep phone calls off, keep your voice low, take a backpack off your back and hold it in front or by your feet, let passengers off before you board, and stand clear of the priority seats if you can. Trains are the place visitors are most likely to be silently judged, and also the easiest place to fix it — the rules are visible if you watch one carriage for a minute.

The train is where the shared-space idea is at its purest. A Tokyo rush-hour carriage is a room with a hundred strangers standing shoulder to shoulder, and the unspoken agreement is that everybody pretends to have a little privacy. Talking to your travel partner is completely fine. A speakerphone call is not.

The details — priority seats, eating on board, the backpack thing, which side of the escalator, what to do when you have a suitcase — are in the full guide: Train and subway etiquette in Japan.

What are the rules for eating in Japan?

Say itadakimasu before you eat, do not stick your chopsticks upright into rice or pass food chopstick-to-chopstick, slurping noodles is genuinely fine, and try not to walk down the street eating. Restaurants will not rush you and will not expect a tip. Most "rules" are about chopsticks and about eating in the right place rather than at the right speed.

The chopstick taboos are the ones people worry about most, and there are really only two that matter, both because they echo funeral rituals. Everything else is preference. Slurping is real and not a myth — it cools hot noodles and it is not considered rude in a noodle shop.

Eating while walking is the one that surprises people. It is not illegal and nobody will stop you, but in most of Tokyo it reads as slightly unmannered, and in a crowded shopping street it makes a mess in a place with no bins. Street-food areas and festivals are the obvious exception, and many food stalls now expect you to eat right there next to them.

Full guide: Japanese dining etiquette: chopsticks, slurping, and eating in public.

How do I visit a shrine or a temple properly?

Shrines are Shinto and temples are Buddhist, and the visible difference is that at a shrine you generally clap, and at a temple you do not. At both, you rinse your hands at the water basin if one is open, you walk in calmly, you can offer a coin of any amount, and you keep your voice down. These are working religious sites, not monuments.

The good news: nobody expects a foreign visitor to know the sequence, and if you do it slightly wrong while clearly being respectful, that is completely fine. The thing people actually notice is volume and cameras, not whether you bowed twice or three times.

Full guide, including the hand-washing sequence and what to do at the offering box: Shrine and temple etiquette in Japan.

What do I do in a convenience store or a shop?

Put your items and your money on the small tray at the register rather than into the staff member's hand, say yes or no to a bag (there is a charge for plastic bags), and do not call out to staff in a shop the way you would in a restaurant. Convenience stores are where you will practise Japanese daily life the most, so this is worth ten minutes of your attention.

The tray confuses everybody at first. It is not a rule with a punishment; it is just the standard flow, and using it makes the interaction smooth instead of a small negotiation about where the coins go.

Full guide, including the exact phrases staff will say to you and what they mean: Convenience stores and shops: how to pay and what staff are asking you.

Do I tip in Japan?

No. Tipping is not customary in Japan and leaving cash on a table will usually cause confusion or a staff member chasing you down the street to return it. Good service is the baseline standard, not an upsell. If you want to show appreciation, say it out loud, or write it in a review.

This is the rule visitors find hardest, especially Americans, because withholding a tip feels like an insult rather than a norm. It helps to know what replaces it — there are three or four things you can actually do that land as appreciation here.

Full guide: Why there is no tipping in Japan, and what to do instead.

Why are there no rubbish bins, and what do I do with my trash?

Public bins are rare in Japan, so the working assumption is that you carry your rubbish with you until you get back to your hotel or find a bin at a convenience store or a station. Bring a small plastic bag. This is the single most practical thing on this page.

It surprises people because Japanese streets are famously clean, and the two facts feel contradictory — but the cleanliness is downstream of everyone taking their own rubbish home rather than of an army of bins.

Full guide, including where bins actually are and how the sorting works: Why Japan has no bins, and what to do with your rubbish.

What are the rules at an onsen or a public bath?

You bathe naked, you wash and rinse thoroughly at the seated shower stations before you get in, and the bath water is for soaking only — no soap, no towel in the water. Baths are separated by gender. Tattoo policies vary by facility, so check in advance if you have visible ink.

The washing-first rule is the whole logic: everyone shares that water, so you enter it already clean. Once that clicks, the rest of the sequence is obvious.

Full guide, including the tattoo situation in honest detail: Onsen and sento etiquette, step by step.

Where do I take my shoes off?

Take your shoes off whenever you see a step up, a row of slippers, or a shoe shelf or locker at the entrance — homes, traditional restaurants with tatami, temple interiors, some clinics, some school and public buildings, and most fitting rooms. Point your shoes back towards the door after you step out of them.

The step is the signal. It is a physical line between outside and inside, and once you learn to look for it you will spot it before anybody has to tell you.

Full guide: Where you take your shoes off in Japan, and how to do it smoothly.

Can I take photos?

Outdoors in public, generally yes. Of individual people, ask first. Inside shops, assume no unless a sign says otherwise — many retailers, and most anime and hobby shops, prohibit photographing their merchandise. At temples and shrines, exteriors are usually fine and interiors often are not. Staff, performers and café workers are people at work, not attractions.

This is the area where a well-meaning visitor most easily causes real upset, because the camera makes a private person into content without asking.

Full guide: Photography etiquette in Japan.

What about Akihabara, anime shops and maid cafés?

Akihabara has its own layer of etiquette on top of the national one: no photography of merchandise in most shops, no photographing staff or maids, do not treat cosplayers or street promoters as free photo subjects, handle secondhand goods gently, and follow the house rules that maid cafés explain at the door. It is a working shopping district that also happens to be a landmark.

This is my neighbourhood, so this guide is the one with the most first-hand detail in it — including the small things that make shop staff visibly relax when a foreign customer does them.

Full guide: Akihabara etiquette: anime shops, maid cafés, and secondhand culture.

What actually happens if I get it wrong?

Almost nothing. In practice, a visitor who gets a rule wrong while clearly trying is treated with patience, and often with amusement. Nobody will scold you. The realistic downside is not punishment — it is a small awkwardness, or a staff member unable to explain the problem in English, which is uncomfortable for both of you.

I want to be honest here, because a lot of etiquette content online is written to frighten you. Japan is not a country where a wrong bow ends the evening. What visitors actually experience is much smaller and much more common: a moment of not knowing what to do, at a ticket machine or a register or a restaurant door, with a queue forming behind them. That is the real problem, and it is a confidence problem, not a knowledge problem.

The other thing worth saying: you will be forgiven for a great deal simply because you are visibly a visitor. That grace is not permission to be careless, but it should take the fear out of your first day. Aim to be considerate, not to be perfect.

Which Japanese words do the most work?

Five phrases cover most interactions: sumimasen (excuse me / sorry / thank you for the trouble), arigatou gozaimasu (thank you), onegaishimasu (please / I'd like this), daijoubu desu (I'm fine / no thank you), and eigo no menu wa arimasu ka (do you have an English menu?). Pronunciation matters much less than you fear.

Sumimasen is the workhorse. It means excuse me, sorry, and thank you for going to trouble for me, all at once. If you learn one word before you arrive, learn this one and use it liberally.

Frequently asked questions

Is it rude to speak English to people in Japan? No. Opening with a short sumimasen first, then English, is the polite version — it signals you know you are asking for help rather than assuming it. Many people understand more English than they feel confident speaking, so keep sentences short and be patient with the pause.

Should I bow? How deep? A small nod of the head is enough for almost everything a visitor does, and it is genuinely useful — it works as thank you, excuse me and hello. Do not attempt a deep formal bow; it looks like a performance rather than a courtesy. Nobody expects a foreign visitor to get bowing angles right.

Is it OK to blow my nose in public? Blowing your nose loudly in a restaurant or a train carriage is considered unpleasant in a way it is not in Europe or the US. Step away, or into a bathroom. Wearing a mask when you have a cold is normal and is read as consideration, not as illness paranoia.

Do I need cash? Carry some. Card and IC-card payment is widespread in cities and increasingly the default in convenience stores and chains, but small restaurants, older shops, shrines and some ticket machines still work in cash. An offering at a shrine is cash by definition.

Is Japan actually strict, or is this all overstated online? Overstated, mostly. The rules are real but the enforcement is social and gentle, and the tolerance for visitors is high. What is understated online is how much easier your trip becomes when the basics are automatic — you stop spending energy on the ticket gate and start noticing where you are.

Practise all of it in one morning

Reading a guide gets you about half way. The other half only arrives when you have physically done it — tapped through a gate, paid with the tray, ordered from a machine, washed your hands at a shrine, and got it slightly wrong once with someone standing next to you who could explain why.

That is exactly why I built a class for it. Tokyo First Day Tour: Japanese Manners & Survival Class is a three-hour walking lesson on your first or second morning in Japan, starting in Asakusa. We use a real station, a real convenience store, a real temple and a real restaurant, and you practise each thing once with a teacher next to you. You leave with the awkwardness already spent, on day one, instead of carrying it for a week.

About the author. I am Yuuki, a Japanese teacher and an anime tour guide based in Tokyo. I guide small-group tours in Akihabara most weeks, rated 4.96★ on Airbnb, and I have watched over 1,500 anime series — which is how most of my guests find me. Between the tours and the lessons I spend a lot of my life watching first-time visitors meet Japan on day one — and taking notes on exactly where it goes wrong.

See the Akihabara anime tour →

Sources: Japan National Tourism Organization, Japanese Manners Do's and Don'ts; Japan National Tourism Organization, Custom & Manners; Japan National Tourism Organization, Shrine & Temple Visits — Best Practices.