Public etiquette

Trains are quiet spaces. Phones are switched to silent (manner mode), calls are not taken in the carriage, and conversation is kept low. Announcements ask passengers to give priority seats (yūsenseki) to elderly, pregnant, disabled and injured passengers and those with small children.

Passengers queue at marked positions on the platform, let others off first, and take backpacks off in crowded carriages to hold them in front or put them on the rack. Many lines run women-only carriages at rush hour, marked on the platform. Eating is avoided on commuter trains but normal on long-distance ones such as the Shinkansen.

Queuing is orderly and taken for granted at bus stops, platforms, shop counters and popular restaurants. Pushing in is one of the few things that visibly annoys people.

On escalators, people traditionally stand on one side and leave the other free for walking: the left in Tokyo and most of eastern Japan, the right in Osaka and much of Kansai. Railway companies and some prefectures now actively ask people to stand on both sides and not walk, for safety; Saitama and Nagoya have ordinances to that effect.

Public rubbish bins are rare, a result of security concerns and the expectation that people take their rubbish home. Convenience stores and stations have bins for their own customers, and vending machines usually have a container for bottles and cans.

Where bins exist, rubbish is separated: burnable waste, plastic bottles, cans and glass, and sometimes more categories. Municipalities set the rules and collection days, and households sort meticulously. Carrying a small bag for one's own rubbish during the day is the simplest solution.

Many cities, including large parts of Tokyo's central wards and Kyoto's historic districts, ban smoking while walking on public streets, and fines can apply. Smoking is allowed in designated smoking areas, often marked by signs and ashtrays near stations. Under the revised Health Promotion Act, fully in force since 2020, smoking is banned indoors in most restaurants, offices and public buildings, with some exceptions for designated rooms and small existing bars.

Photographing strangers, especially close up, without asking is considered intrusive; this matters particularly for children, for maiko and geiko in Kyoto's Gion district, where some private lanes now prohibit photography, and in shrines and temples where interiors are often off limits. Signs showing a crossed-out camera mean what they say.

Phones sold in Japan make a shutter sound that cannot be switched off, a measure against covert photography. Drones are restricted over populated areas and many parks under the Civil Aeronautics Act and local rules.

A few further habits smooth public life. Blowing one's nose loudly in public is avoided, and people with colds often wear masks out of consideration for others. Walking while eating is traditionally frowned upon. Lost property is handed to a kōban (police box) or station staff, and a strikingly high share is returned to its owners.

Public displays of anger or loud confrontation are rare; problems are raised politely and quietly, often with sumimasen ("excuse me") as the opening word.