Train Etiquette In Japan

Above, rush-hour commuters boarding the Yamanote Line in Tokyo. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Suppose you are riding in a commuter (or even a long distance) train in Japan. You may get the urge to do something that, in the eyes of Japanese citizens, may be a no-no.

Well, to educate yourself on train etiquette, City-Cost.com has a list of things to avoid doing while in a Japanese train and creating an "international incident".

They start with:

There are rules for a reason, though; without them some people wouldn’t care. Even with them, some people don’t, but the numbers are probably reduced. In Japan it’s not unusual to see polite appeals from authority for passengers to pay attention to rules, situations regarding safety, and the desired etiquette that comes with shared spaces and services. Interestingly these polite appeals tend to have more of a presence than the blunt threat of fines or legal action that you might find in other nations. Some anti-authoritarian types might sneer, ‘Rules are there to be broken.’, and foreigners in particular are often unwittingly guilty. So, to avoid surprise, embarrassment, and causing upset among the locals let’s take a look at what one can expect to find in terms of rules (written and not) and common etiquette on Japan’s trains. These would be more of the ‘don’ts’ rather than the ‘dos’ for Japan’s trains.

To read on, go here.