Japan's biggest do's and don'ts are gentler than they sound: take your shoes off where you're meant to, keep your voice down on trains, pay using the little money tray, and carry your trash until you find a bin. The two real taboos both involve chopsticks — never stand them upright in rice, and never pass food tip to tip.
Beyond those, Japanese etiquette is mostly common courtesy turned up a notch. Nobody expects a visitor to get everything right. Trying at all is what earns the warm response Japan is famous for.
The do's
Take your shoes off at the genkan (玄関), the sunken entry step you'll find in homes, traditional inns, temples, and some restaurants. A step up, a shoe rack, or slippers set out are your cues.
Where toilet slippers are provided, change into them for the bathroom — then change back. Padding into the dining room in toilet slippers is the classic, gently mortifying blunder.
Keep trains quiet. Phones go on silent, or "manner mode," and you don't take calls. Queue neatly at the platform markings, and let people off before you board.
Use the money tray at registers rather than pressing cash into someone's hand, and carry your trash — public bins are surprisingly rare, so a small bag in your pocket helps.
At an onsen (温泉), hot spring, you wash and rinse thoroughly at the little shower stations before you get in, and you bathe with no swimsuit. The shared bath is for soaking clean, never for washing. A small towel stays out of the water.
The don'ts
Two chopstick habits are genuine taboos because both echo funeral rites: never stand chopsticks upright in a bowl of rice, and never pass food from your chopsticks to someone else's. Set chopsticks on the rest or across your bowl, and move food dish to dish instead.
Eating while walking is uncommon rather than forbidden — fine at a festival stall, a little frowned upon striding down a busy street. When in doubt, step to the side and finish first.
Don't blow your nose loudly in public; step away or excuse yourself. And keep your volume low in enclosed spaces like trains, elevators, and quiet restaurants.
On escalators, stand on one side and leave the other clear for walkers — but which side flips by region. In Tokyo you stand on the left; in Osaka you stand on the right. Watch what everyone else does and copy them.
A few phrases that smooth everything
You can navigate almost any small moment with three words, all in the polite form.
すみません
sumimasen
Excuse me / sorry
お願いします
onegaishimasu
Please (when asking for something)
いただきます
itadakimasu
Said before you eat
Sumimasen (すみません) alone covers excuse me, sorry, and a grateful "thanks for the trouble." Not tipping is another surprise worth reading up on — see why you shouldn't tip in Japan — but a sincere word, offered often, is the etiquette that matters most.
Keep learning Japanese
Good manners and a few good phrases travel together. Learn the ones you'll actually use with our free travel Japanese phrases, then practice them with audio and speaking drills in the Pretalk app, so a polite sumimasen comes out naturally the moment you need it.
