So what 7 things should you do in Japan but not in the good ol’ US of A? Let’s find out.

Not Tip for Service

Tipping is a huge part in the day to day lives of the average American. You tip your waiters, cabdrivers, bellboys, and bartenders. Everybody loves getting tips. In Japan, however, tipping is a definite no-no.

If you tip someone in Japan, they may be confused as to why you gave them too much money and they’ll insist that you take your change. Some workers may feel guilty about the extra money and not know what to do with it or if taxes need to be paid on it or if they should report it to their superior. Some employees may even see it as demeaning.

When nobody has to worry about tipping, the atmosphere is a lot more relaxed. Your waiter won’t be coming over to your table every five minutes to see how everything is. You eat your food, the waiter does their job, you pay for the cost of your food, and the waiter earns their fair wage. Everybody wins. Don’t tip in Japan.

Not Hold Doors Open for People

Okay, so this one’s not so much something you shouldn’t do in Japan, but you definitely shouldn’t be surprised when you see others not holding doors open or someone doesn’t do it for you.

In Japanese culture and society, it never became commonplace for males to hold open doors for the ladies. It’s just not something they’re used to doing over there. So if nobody opens any doors for you or if they seem super surprised when you do so for them, now you know why. Heck, even taxi cab doors open on their own – no need to worry about those.

Push and Shove on Subways and Trains

Trains and subways are like, super crowded in Japan especially in the cities around rush hour. To get on and off these crowded trains when they need to, Japanese people must push and shove a bit to get where they’re going before the doors close. It’s unavoidable. Because it’s so commonplace for people to do this, most often the apologies are glossed over as it’s just something everyone does.

If you find you need to shove your way out of a situation, here’s how to do it as politely and as respectfully as you can. First off, only push when you absolutely need to, and push gently and kindly with your body, not with your hands (if possible). If you’re carrying a bag or backpack, carry it in front or behind you so you aren’t smacking people with it as you pass through.

Also, you can let people know you’re getting off by saying “orimasu” (getting off) so they know why you’re pushing past them. Also, since people usually don’t apologize while pushing, if you do find you need to really move someone out of the way, you might as well throw a “sumimasen” out there just to be safe. For further reading on what to do (and not do) on trains in Japan, check out our How to be a Baka Gaijin (on Trains) post.

Yell to Get a Waiter’s Attention

Most of the time when you need something in a sit-down restaurant in America, you just wait for your server to come over to the table. Usually, it’s not too long because they need to make sure they meet your every need as they’re working hard to get your tips. Not so in Japan. In America, it’s considered pretty rude to snap your fingers or yell out for some service. In Japan, you can just yell out “sumimasen” and someone will be right over to help you out.

I actually had firsthand experience with this at a restaurant in Tokyo. My friends and I needed some water with our meal, and the waitress was just going about her job doing other things. When we realized she wasn’t going to come over on her own to check up on us, one of the guys yelled out “sumimasen” and she came right over to help us out. It feels a little strange at first to shout for service in a restaurant like this, but it’s just what they do there.

Slurp Your Noodles

In America, you’re not supposed to make slurping noises when eating anything. No slurping soups, noodles, or anything. In Japan, however, slurping is just the opposite. It’s polite to slurp. When eating ramen, soba, udon, etc, feel free to slurp as loudly as possible. Some say it helps to cool down the temperature of the hot noodles as you eat them, and others say it enhances the flavor. Whatever the reason, don’t be afraid to slurp away!

For many foreigners, myself included, slurping foods in this way just seems strange and I could never seem to get used to it so it’s just something I don’t do, even in Japan. For further reading on what to do and what not to do when eating in Japan, check out our How to be a Baka Gaijin (While Eating) post.

Lift Your Plates and Bowls

This kind of goes hand in hand with slurping, but in Japan, it’s perfectly acceptable to lift bowls up you your mouth as you eat them. This makes it much easier to shovel foods like rice and noodles into your mouth. In America, the bowls and plates are meant to stay on the table, and you’re expected to bring the food up to your mouth using your utensils. Japan (and I) think this custom is super dumb, so we lift the bowls up to our faces instead.

Drink Alcohol in Public

And last, but not least, one of my least favorite things about America, our inability to imbibe alcohol out in public. It’s really lame. In Japan (and a lot of other places, I’m sure) there’s no open container laws and you can drink some beers on the train back from school or work, out at the park, or by the beach. All with no worry of some police officer coming over to ruin your fun. In Japan you can drink wherever you like and it’s just great.

For us poor folks living in America, drinking out in public is a very bad idea and we have to do all our drinking activities in specified establishments or within the confines of our own property. Maybe one day it’ll change. Probably not though. For more info on how drinking works in Japan, you can check out our post on How to Drink in Japan.

And More…

These are just 7 of the things that are discouraged/encouraged in Japan but are the total opposite in America. I’m sure there are other things that conflict with other countries’ ways of doing things as well. But for us Americans, the above list is a great introduction into what things aren’t as common over in Japan as they are at home.

So tell me, have you ever been surprised by one of the above customs? Can you think of any others? How many of these Japanese customs are identical to how things are in your home country? Let us know in the comments!

Header image by Jeff from Houston

1. Don’t Bring a Gift

The first situation you’ll run into at a Japanese house is entering the residence and meeting the family who has been so kind as to take you in for a while in this strange new country. Should you bring them a gift? No way! Simply by being there, you are providing them with the best gift at all – your baka gaijinity. There is no way they’d be offended that you didn’t adhere to the custom of bringing a small gift such as alcohol, chocolate, or a souvenir from your home country when visiting a house in Japan. They should be giving you a gift for gracing them with your presence.

This is a surefire way to let your homestay family know right off the bat that you have no idea what’s going on. Not bringing a small gift to show your thanks for them putting up with your baka gaijinity for however long you are there is a pretty lousy thing to do. But if you want to lull them into a false sense of security with your manners, you should definitely provide them with a small gift of gratitude before you surprise them all with our next tip.

2. Wear Your Dirty Shoes in the House

Immediately after presenting your gift (or not) you should romp right into the house with your wet and muddy shoes. Japanese people love to clean and they will be delighted to know that you were so excited to see the rest of their beautiful home (which they just recently cleaned for your arrival) that you just could not spare the time to take off your filthy shoes. By the time one of the children hints at you that wearing your shoes inside is a no-no, you’ve already covered a good portion of the house in your baka gaijin filth. Well done.

Pretty much never do Japanese people wear shoes inside their homes. It’s usually slippers (more on that later), or socks in the home, so wearing your outdoor shoes inside a residence is a great way to show off how baka you are. Usually homes will have house slippers for themselves as well as their guests right near the entryway where you didn’t take off your shoes, you silly gaijin, you.

3. Wear the Bathroom Slippers Around the House

So you finally took off your dirty shoes and you realize that you haven’t gone to the bathroom since you arrived in this strange new country. You ask where the bathroom is and you rush right in. Upon arrival, you notice that there are a pair of slippers in here. How convenient! You just learned about these earlier. So you slip on the slippers, do your business, and prance right out of there like royalty, still in the slippers. You know, the slippers that are only meant to be worn while in the bathroom because, you know, people pee in there.

You may find yourself asking how much more complicated can household footwear get? Well after you see the horrified faces of your homestay family when they realize you’re wearing the toilet slippers around the house after they just cleaned the floors from your earlier incident, you’ll know just about all you need to know concerning footwear etiquette in the house. Maybe next time you should just leave the bathroom slippers where they belong, okay?

4. Get Extra Comfy Around the Dinner Table

By this time you’re probably pretty hungry. And probably pretty sick of everything that has to do with feet and the things that go over them. It’s time for dinner and you sit yourself down on the floor by the dinner table. Even though everyone else is sitting seiza or Indian style, you decide to show everyone your endless capacity for baka gaijin-ness and sit all sprawled out with your legs stretching under the table and your feet pointing at and sometimes touching the members of the family. Why try to conform now when you’re already so far down the path of baka gaijinity?

By this point you’ve probably realized that a great thing to do in unfamiliar situations is just to do what everyone else is doing. Follow the social convention. The best way to be a baka gaijin is to just do your own thing and totally ignore anything you think might be customary in this new land. Pointing feet at people and especially touching other folks with your feet is pretty darn rude. Oops.

5. Hog the Bathtub Because You are a King (or Queen)

Dinner is over and sleepy-time is fast approaching. What do? Take a bath of course! The family graciously offers to draw a bath for you and allow you to be the first one to take a bath that evening. Show them what a baka gaijin you are by not even thinking about allowing one of them to take the first bath – no one deserves it as much as you do! Remember, you are a gift to this family. Once you get into the bathroom, be sure not to wash yourself off before getting in the bath, you’re clean enough already. Time to take a nice long soak in the tub. Afterwards, be sure to pull the plug and drain the water. It’s not like there’s a whole family of people planning to take a bath after you, right?

Okay, so usually families will use the same bathwater for everyone’s bath since they will usually wash themselves off first in a shower separate from the tub. That way when they get into the tub, they are already clean and they don’t dirty the tub water with their human filth. So in a way, your draining the tub kind of saved the family from bathing in your filth and experiencing the wrath of your baka gaijinity. Well, half of your baka gaijinity anyway.

Su Casa es Mi Casa Baka

By performing all of these acts you will have made it very, very clear to the family what a baka gaijin you are. Especially if you manage to pull all of them off in the same day (impressive!) So next time you are in Japan, remember how to act on a train, but also remember how you should act once you get to your destination as well. Make every house your own personal baka house**

So now you know how to be a baka on trains, and also how to be a baka while in a Japanese house. Have you ever accidentally made any of these mistakes while in Japan? Tell us your story in the comments! (Don’t worry, it happens to the best of us.)

Also, if you want a more straightforward post about how to behave in Japanese households, it’s laid out pretty plainly in this post from VipJapan.

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**Please realize that this post is mostly satire and is supposed to be funny. I am aware that gaijin are not the only ones who perform the faux pas in this series of baka gaijin posts. They are just meant to draw attention to some mistakes people might make while in Japan in a humorous manner.
Hugs and kisses <3 J

Table Manners

Because eating is hard.

Did you know that pouring soy sauce on your white rice is considered bad manners? One of the best things about Japan is the food (assuming you like rice and the ocean) and some of the first things a gaijin should learn are how to use chopsticks and how to eat sushi. Once you get these and other basics down, you’re relatively good to go! So go forth and eat and drink everything in sight like the gluttonous westerner you are.

• How to Actually Use Chopsticks
• How to Actually Eat Sushi
• General Table Manners in Japan
• Proper Eating and Drinking Etiquette in Japan

In the House

Because not wearing shoes is hard.

Did you know that shoes are not worn inside Japanese homes, and that there is even a separate set of slippers worn exclusively in the bathroom? Being invited into someone’s house is considered an honor in Japan, and being a guest in a Japanese home can certainly be a terrifying experience if you are not prepared. Check out these handy posts and brush up on your manners before that home-stay!

• Proper Etiquette When Visiting a Japanese Household
• Wearing House Slippers in Japan

Public Bath Etiquette

Because being naked is hard.

Did you know that you wash your body before you actually get into the bath? Well it’s true, and the last thing you want to do is embarrass yourself further in an already (potentially) embarrassing situation. Many foreigners are not accustomed to Japanese public baths (sento) where everyone runs around naked. However, sento are a staple of Japanese culture and should be experienced if given the chance. Another thing that many foreigners are unaware of is that Japanese sento cure every disease ever forever. Check out these basic tips to get the most out of your next sento visit.

• Japanese Guest Houses: Japanese Bathing Etiquette
• Bathing Etiquette: Sento Guide

Bathroom Etiquette

Because pooping is hard.

Did you know that many toilets have a button that when pressed replicates the sound of a toilet flushing? Well they do, and it’s pretty handy if you find yourself in the need of multiple courtesy flushes. That way, no water is wasted! Well done, Japan. Well done. Like everything else in the country, Japanese toilets are from the future.

• Proper Bathroom Etiquette in Japan
• Showering and Bathing in Japanese Bathrooms

Public Transport Etiquette

Because throwing up in private is hard.

Did you know that it is considered bad manners to projectile vomit in the middle of a crowded train? Okay, so riding trains in Japan isn’t all that hard once you know what you’re doing, but these posters are hilarious. I’ve also included some basic tips on surviving the entire process of using the highly efficient public transport system of Japan. Those trains can get pretty crowded from time to time however…

• How to Ride a Train In Japan
• Train Etiquette Posters

Sitting

Because sitting is hard.

Did you know that it’s rude to have the soles of your feet pointing out towards other people? With the proper amount of samurai pizza cat training you too can learn how to sit in the seiza position for more than two minutes. Most westerners are not used to sitting on the floor like this, but in Japan, you’ll likely be doing a lot of it.

• How to Sit Like a Native Japanese Human

Gift Giving

Because shopping is hard.

Did you know that giving anything related to the number 4 or 9 is considered unlucky? Gift giving can be difficult for the Japanese initiate. Even gift receiving can be an ordeal all in itself. Check out these handy tips and learn how to be the best Santa-san of all time. (Just don’t be like this poor fool and forget to take your shoes off.)

• Japanese Gift Giving Guidelines
• Gifts for Special Occasions in Japan

Letter Writing

Because writing is hard.

Did you know that letter-writing in Japan is not so much dependent on the content but more so on following the proper format? Despite the advent of e-mail, handwritten letters are still very important in Japan. I mean, how else are you going to properly thank the Japanese people for making Nicholas Cage do this?

• General Guidelines for Letters and Postcards
• Some Helpful Tips From JapanForum.com

Everything Else

Because baseball is hard (in space).

Did you know that in French, dandelions are called pissenlit, which means “urinate in bed?” Of course you didn’t. In this section you will find summaries of all the other sections plus etiquette rules you would have never even thought of. Enjoy.

• General Etiquette for Everything Forever by Wikipedia
• Japanese Manners and Etiquette by the Japan FAQ
• Cultural Etiquette in Japan by eDiplomat
• Guide to Japanese Manners and Etiquette by jref

Congratulations. You are now a native Japanese human.

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