Guide · Akihabara

Train and Subway Etiquette in Japan: What Locals Actually Do — From a Guide Who Rides These Lines Every Week

Keep phone calls off and your voice low, take your backpack off your back in a crowded carriage, queue on the painted marks and let people off before you board, and stay out of the priority seats if someone is likely to need one. Trains are where visitors most often feel watched, and also the easiest place to blend in — one carriage of observation teaches you almost everything.

I ride these lines every week to meet tour guests, and I can tell you the honest version: nobody is grading you. But a Tokyo train is a room where a hundred strangers have quietly agreed to behave as if they are alone, and that agreement is easy to break by accident.

Can you talk on the train in Japan?

Yes, you can talk. Conversation with the person next to you at a low volume is completely normal and happens constantly. What is avoided is phone calls — speaking to someone who is not there, at the volume a phone makes you use. The rule is not silence; it is not broadcasting.

This distinction confuses people who read "Japanese trains are silent" online and then sit rigidly through a forty-minute ride. Listen next time: there is conversation. It is just pitched at the person beside you rather than at the carriage.

If your phone rings, the normal move is to decline it, or answer with a quick quiet "I'll call you back." If it is genuinely urgent, move to the space between carriages.

What are priority seats and can I sit in them?

Priority seats, usually marked in a different colour with pictogram stickers, are for elderly passengers, pregnant passengers, people with disabilities or injuries, and people travelling with small children. You are not banned from sitting there when the train is empty, but you are expected to stand up the moment someone who needs it appears — and many locals simply avoid them to save the judgment call.

Two things visitors get wrong. First, the need is often invisible: a maternity badge (a small pink tag with a mother and baby on it) or a help mark (a red tag with a white cross and heart) signals a need that you cannot see. If you see one of those tags, offer the seat.

Second, phone policy near priority seats varies by railway company and has changed over the years — some operators ask passengers to switch phones off near priority seats, others only ask for silent mode. Read the signs on the line you are riding rather than assuming a national rule.

Why do people take their backpacks off?

A backpack on your back occupies a person's worth of space you cannot see, and it hits people every time you turn. In a crowded carriage the convention is to take it off and hold it in front of you, put it between your feet, or place it on the overhead rack. In an empty carriage nobody cares.

This is the single easiest way to look like you know what you are doing, and it is also just true — I have been elbowed by more backpacks than by people.

If you are travelling with a suitcase, stand near the doors at the end of the carriage or in the dedicated luggage space if the train has one, keep a hand on it so it does not roll, and avoid rush hour entirely if you can. Between roughly 07:30 and 09:00 on weekdays, a suitcase on a commuter line is genuinely difficult for everyone including you.

How does boarding work?

Look down. Platforms are painted with marks showing where the doors will stop and where to queue, usually two lines forming a V shape either side of the door. Stand in the lines, let everyone off first, then board. Trains stop precisely enough for this system to work every time.

The queue is not a suggestion, and it is one of the rare places where a visitor cutting in will get a visible reaction. It is also, once you use it, extremely pleasant — you know exactly where to stand and you get on without a scrum.

At major stations some lines have separate marks for different train types, with numbers or colours that correspond to signs above. If in doubt, join the queue that everyone else is joining.

Can you eat or drink on a Japanese train?

It depends on the train. On local commuter and subway lines, eating is avoided — the carriage is crowded and the smell travels. On long-distance trains including the Shinkansen and on reserved-seat limited express services, eating is completely normal, and station bento boxes exist specifically for this.

A drink with a lid is fine almost anywhere. A hot bowl of anything on a rush-hour subway is not. The distinction is basically whether you are in a shared standing room or in your own reserved seat.

Escalators, ticket gates and the small stuff

In Tokyo, people stand on the left of escalators and walk on the right; in the Osaka area the convention is reversed. Officially, several railway operators now ask people to stand still on both sides for safety reasons, so you will see both behaviours. Follow the people in front of you.

A few other things nobody tells you:

• Have your IC card ready before the gate. The gates are fast and a queue forms behind you instantly. Digging in a bag at the gate is the most common visitor stumble I see.
• Do not run for a closing door. The next one is usually two to five minutes away, and forcing doors delays the whole line.
• Keep left when walking in stations in Tokyo, matching the escalator convention.
• Sit properly on bench seats. Legs together, bag on your lap. Manspreading on a full train is genuinely resented.
• Wet umbrellas get held down at your side rather than swung — many stations have plastic sleeves or racks near the entrance.
• Sleeping is normal. If a stranger nods off onto your shoulder, that is a Tokyo experience, not an incident.

What if I make a mistake?

Say sumimasen, fix it, and carry on. Nobody will confront you, and station staff are generally patient with visitors — the staffed window at the gate exists exactly for people whose ticket did not work. Getting on the wrong train is a routine problem with a routine fix.

If your card fails at the gate, do not push through and do not panic: step to the staffed booth at the end of the gate line and show your card. Fare adjustment is a completely ordinary transaction that happens hundreds of times a day, including to locals.

Frequently asked questions

Are there women-only carriages? Many operators run women-only carriages during certain hours, usually the morning rush, marked with pink signs on the platform and on the carriage door. The hours and the carriage position vary by line, so read the platform sign. Outside the designated hours these carriages are open to everyone.

Can I use my phone at all? Yes — texting, reading, games and music on headphones are all completely normal, which is what most of the carriage is doing. Keep the volume low enough that nobody else can hear your headphones, since leaking sound is one of the few things people will actually glance at you for.

Is it rude to wear a big backpack in the station? No, only in a crowded carriage. Stations are wide and nobody minds. Reflexively taking it off as you step through the door is the habit worth building.

What do I do if I need a seat but can't ask? Stand near the priority seats and make your need visible — a bandaged leg or a maternity badge does the work. If you need to ask, sumimasen plus pointing at the seat is enough, and someone will move.

Do I need to be silent with my travel partner? No. Talk normally at a low volume. The mistake is not talking; it is talking at the volume you would use in a café.

Get the first ride over with

The trains stop being scary the moment you have done it once with someone next to you. That is a chunk of what my Tokyo First Day Tour: Japanese Manners & Survival Class covers — we tap through a real gate, buy and top up a real card, ride a real line and use the real queue marks on your first or second morning in Japan, so the rest of your trip runs on autopilot.

For the rest of the basics, the full map is here: Japanese etiquette: a complete guide for first-time visitors.

About the author. I am Yuuki, a Japanese teacher and Akihabara tour guide. I run small-group tours in English 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. I take these lines to meet guests most weeks of the year.

See the Akihabara anime tour →

Sources: Toei Transportation (Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation), Passenger Conduct & Manners; JR Kyushu Railway Company, Station Manners; Japan National Tourism Organization, Japanese Manners Do's and Don'ts.