You can see a lot of amazing things if you visit Japan, but as with any country, it's
important to know the local customs and traditions before you arrive — out of respect if nothing
else.
And Japan has plenty of customs and manners you should keep an eye out for.
If you always balk at having to fork over $5.39 on every $36 dining ticket, you should
totally move to Japan.
Japanese service workers not only don't expect a tip, if you try to give them one, they will
probably reject it.
That's largely because Japanese service workers don't get crappy pay with the expectation
that customers will make up for the gap in their wages.
According to Boutique Japan, most waitstaff, hotel staff, taxi drivers, and bartenders
will give you unimpeachable service without an expectation of an extra financial reward,
simply because unimpeachable service is embedded in the Japanese culture.
Also, it doesn't hurt that Japanese service workers don't have to worry that their customers'
own personal tipping philosophies might be the only thing preventing them from making
ends meet, so their jobs lack some of the stress of similar American positions.
"Come on, throw in a buck."
"Uh-huh, I don't tip."
So even though visiting Japan may be sort of taxing in other ways if you don't do your
cultural homework, there are definitely some perks — especially if you're the sort of
person who only tips because your friends are watching or because you don't want disgruntled
kitchen staff spitting in your food.
Let's be honest: Americans are always in a hurry.
Hence our tendency to eat on the run and our gravitation toward "portable" food.
According to This Japanese Life, the Japanese are a little more picky about eating and drinking.
Specifically, they don't walk around while doing either one.
This might seem kind of odd in a culture that adores vending machines, but the Japanese
have not come to the same conclusion about quick-service food that we have.
In Japan, food obtained quickly doesn't necessarily have to be eaten quickly.
In fact, the Japanese will often get a snack or soda out of a vending machine and then
stand there, next to the vending machine, until they've finished the item.
So do the Japanese have a reason they can point to for their moratorium on eating and
drinking on the go?
No one really knows.
Like not tipping, it's just part of the Japanese culture.
You quite often see photos of people in Japan wearing surgical masks.
So often, in fact, that you might actually wonder if surgical masks are just a fashion
thing.
Meanwhile, in America, we cough into the open air, sneeze all over our hands moments before
grabbing doorknobs, and sneak out of restrooms without washing up.
According to Japan Today, in the Japanese culture, it's not nice to share germs.
So if you're sick and you must leave your home, you put a surgical mask over your nose
and mouth because that's the polite thing to do.
Surgical masks are also worn out of an abundance of caution — if your commute regularly has
you in a packed train during flu season, it's probably not a terrible idea to put on a surgical
mask.
And if you're going to wear a surgical mask, it's also not a terrible idea to pick one
that matches your outfit or has your favorite anime character on it, so in a sense, it can
kind of be a fashion statement, too.
So why don't Westerners do the same thing?
Mostly because someone might look at us funny.
We're a silly lot, aren't we?
Here's a tip — if you dine out in Japan, learn all the rules about soy sauce first.
Because the Japanese take soy sauce etiquette very, very, seriously.
You're probably used to dumping soy sauce all over your white rice when you're eating
in American Asian restaurants, but don't do it in Japan.
Soy sauce in Japan is not meant for drowning out the subtle flavor of white rice, and white
rice does actually have subtle flavor — it's just that American palettes aren't generally
tuned into it.
According to Japan Today, another big soy sauce etiquette mistake that American diners
make is mixing wasabi directly into soy sauce.
For a start, it's kind of insulting to the chef, since he worked very hard to make sure
that your sushi has exactly the right amount of wasabi and soy sauce built in.
If you must dip, you're expected to put your wasabi on your sushi first, and then dip it
in the soy sauce fish-side down.
"You can see no — no rice.
Just a touch of soy sauce on the top of the fish."
Or just get takeout and go to town in the privacy of your hotel room.
People can't judge what they can't see, right?
"You know you want in on this, man.
A little fatty toon.
A little yellow T. Cali roll.
Samurai snack.
So scrummy."
Wearing shoes in the house is just not something people do in Japan.
It's kind of akin to the American tradition of not putting your feet on the table.
Almost zero Americans would be okay with guests putting their dirty boots on the same surface
where the cups and plates go, and in Japan it's thought of as equally gross to do the
same thing to the floor.
According to Guidable, you should always remove your shoes immediately after entering a Japanese
home — along with most historic buildings.
This means you always need to have a neat, stain-free, and hole-free pair of socks either
on your feet or stashed away on your person so you can put on the slippers that your host
will provide for you.
Once you've donned the slippers, there are even more rules you need to follow.
For instance, you can wear them on hardwood but you can't wear them on carpeted or matted
floors because even though the hardwood inside a Japanese home is impeccably clean compared
to an American home, your slippers still might have dirt on them that could wind up on the
carpet.
Oh, and don't forget: You're also expected to don a special pair of "toilet slippers"
designed specifically for use in the bathroom.
Japanese food etiquette doesn't end with your soy sauce, so if you're going to eat out it
will benefit you to also understand all the millions of things you're expected to do with
your chopsticks.
According to Japan Today, you should always pick up your bowl before you pick up your
chopsticks.
"He's not a very sophisticated man.
I mean, he can't use chopsticks.
So do I need to say anything else?"
You are also expected to put your chopsticks down before picking up a different bowl.
And being indecisive about what you're going to eat next is bad form.
So don't wave your chopsticks around over the food before deciding what to take — that's
so rude that the Japanese even have a derogatory name for it: "hesitating chopsticks."
You should also avoid resting your chopsticks on your bowl, rubbing your chopsticks together
to remove splinters, standing your chopsticks up in your rice — specifically, because
that's what they do as an offering to the dead during a funeral.
Further, make sure you never ever pass food with your chopsticks — for obvious hygienic
reasons.
And don't you dare point at people with your chopsticks, you savage.
If you're worried you might forget one of these many rules, well… maybe just eat at
McDonald's when you're in Japan.
Hey — there's no shame in taking comfort in the familiar.
For some reason, carrying a snot-laden tissue around in your pocket isn't considered gross
in the West.
We have a long and noble tradition of carrying around the stuff that comes out of our noses.
When you have a cold, you are expected to honk into your tissue wherever you happen
to be because continuously sniffling and snorting is rude and disgusting and typically only
perpetrated by children and by adults whose parents never taught them manners.
In Japan, the opposite is true.
According to the Independent, if you have a runny nose in Japan, you're expected to
sniffle until you can find a bathroom.
Then — after donning your bathroom slippers and removing your surgical mask, of course
— you may honk and blow as much as you like, just so long as you are out of sight and earshot
of anyone who might witness the disgusting practice.
If there is no bathroom nearby, go ahead and snort and sniffle as loudly as you need to.
No one in Japan finds that rude or gross.
America seems to be more or less divided on whether public displays of affection are socially
acceptable.
No one really loves to see a young couple smacking and groping each other on the subway,
unless we intend to gripe about it on Twitter.
On the other hand, there seem to be plenty of people who do think it's socially acceptable,
but they're usually the people who are doing it.
In Japan, the take against public displays of affection goes beyond the "get a room"
type stuff, though.
According to Japan Today, many Japanese avoid attracting attention to themselves and will
always behave modestly when in public.
That means everything from face-sucking to public pecks on the cheek and putting your
arm around someone could be considered rude.
Even publicly gazing fondly into the eyes of your beloved might be frowned upon, depending
on where you are.
Western tourists might roll their eyes at these social norms, but in Japan, even small
displays of affection have been kept out of public places for so long that a peck on the
cheek seems just as outrageous as that face-sucking couple on the train.
And really, if you can't keep your hands off each other, it was probably a terrible idea
to go on vacation to Japan when you could have rented a hotel room at home for a lot
less money.
Unless you took your Rosetta language software really, really seriously in the months prior
to your Japanese adventure, the chances are pretty good that you're only going to know
a handful of Japanese words before you disembark in the Land of the Rising Sun.
So apart from "please," "thank you," and "where is the bathroom," you may find it challenging
to make yourself understood, and you may be tempted to revert to the oldest form of human
communication: pointing at things.
Now, that presents a two-part problem.
Your mom probably told you not to point because it's rude.
But you probably do anyway because everyone does.
And when you're in a situation where you can't speak the language, it's even more tempting
to point.
You're actually better off just downloading a Japanese phrase app because in Japan, pointing
is just plain rude.
According to the Japan FAQ, you have to follow specific rules even if you're just pointing
at yourself — if indicating yourself in a conversation, you should point at your nose,
not at your chest.
You shouldn't point at someone with chopsticks, and you really shouldn't do it with your finger,
either.
If you must indicate a particular person, you should use your whole hand.
"Ahhhh….
So.
Ahhhh — "
"Ahhhhh… so — "
For most people, yawning is involuntary.
That doesn't change the fact that, in Japan, it's considered rude to yawn openly.
You at least get to cover your mouth if you can't stop that yawn — but too much yawning
shows fatigue or boredom, which is why it's considered taboo.
The Japanese culture values endurance, which means it's sort of a sign of weakness to admit
to being tired or bored.
It isn't just yawning, though.
An open mouth that isn't talking is also frowned upon, mostly just because… well, it looks
like a yawn.
That means, if you've got a stuffy nose, breathing out of your mouth is a no-no.
"Mouth breather…"
Those fashion-y, goth surgical masks are starting to sound pretty dang good, huh?
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