One rule instead of twenty

It all comes down to one word: meiwaku - being a nuisance to others. Japanese people don't carry a list of prohibitions in their heads. They have a reflex: am I making things worse for someone else? Get that, and the rest follows.

And to be straight with you: nobody expects a tourist to get everything right. You won't be told off. At most someone will gently show you how it's done.

Eating in the street - allowed, but use your head

This is the most twisted piece of advice online. There is no ban on eating while walking. No such law, nobody will stop you.

The problem starts in a crowd. In a crush it's easy to stain someone, bump into them, leave grease on a stranger's sleeve - and that is exactly meiwaku. So:

  • Empty street, park, riverbank - eat while you walk, nobody minds.
  • Crowds - step aside, eat, then move on. It costs you two minutes.
  • Food stall - there's almost always space to stand and eat right there. That's where you eat it, not on the way to the next sight.

Some places ask you directly and put up signs - Nishiki Market in Kyoto, Komachi street in Kamakura. It isn't law, it's a request from people tired of cleaning up. Respect it.

You don't eat on commuter trains or the metro. On the shinkansen and long-distance trains it's the opposite - an ekiben lunch box from the station is part of the journey.

Escalators - this one has changed

The old advice was: stand on one side, leave the other for people walking. Left in Tokyo, right in Osaka.

For several years now railways and cities have been pushing the other way: stand on both sides and don't walk. Walking causes accidents and wears out the mechanism. Saitama passed an ordinance in 2021, Nagoya in 2023, and posters hang in stations across the country.

In practice habit beats posters and people still leave one lane free. Safe tactic: stand where everyone else stands, hold the handrail, don't overtake. You can't go wrong.

On the train

  • Phone on silent, no calls. This one everybody keeps.
  • Backpack off your back - in your hand or on the rack. In a crush a backpack on your back is the single most annoying thing you can do.
  • Board only after everyone has got off. Queue positions are painted on the platform, use them.
  • Priority seats - you no longer need to switch your phone off, despite the old rule, but give up the seat without thinking.

Shoes

You take them off in a ryokan, in some restaurants, in temples and in someone's home. The signal is always the same: a threshold and a floor higher than where you're standing, plus a shoe rack or lockers.

Toilets sometimes have their own slippers. You wear them in the toilet and leave them there. Walking back into the room in toilet slippers is a classic that Japanese people laugh about themselves.

Practical tip: you take your shoes off far more often than you expect. Bring socks without holes and shoes you can slip off without sitting down.

Money

  • Cash goes on the tray at the till, not into the hand. Cards you usually tap or insert yourself.
  • There is no tipping. It's not about embarrassment - it simply doesn't exist. Money left behind is treated as lost property and staff will run after you to return it.
  • You often pay at the till on the way out, not at your table.

Temples and shrines

At the entrance to a Shinto shrine there's a stone water basin (temizuya). Rinse your left hand, then the right, then your mouth from your hand - never straight from the ladle. Since the pandemic many places removed the ladles and simply run water; then just rinse your hands.

Don't walk down the middle of the approach to a shrine - that lane belongs to the deity. Keep to the side. In Buddhist temples: quiet, and no photos where a sign forbids it. The sign is usually a pictogram, hard to miss.

Small things that make a difference

  • Don't blow your nose in front of people. Sniffing is normal here, loud nose-blowing isn't.
  • Leave a wet umbrella in the stand, or take a plastic sleeve at the shop entrance.
  • Don't point with a finger, an open hand does the job.
  • You carry your rubbish with you. That's its own topic and I wrote a whole guide about it, because sorting can catch you out.

💡 From me: don't memorise this before you fly. Watch what people around you do and copy them. In Japan that works better than any list.