Japan: 10 Annoying Foreign Tourist Behaviors On Trains

Above, inside a Shinkansen (bullet train) car. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Japan seems to have many etiquette rules. Anyone who has been there at least several times gets acclimated with them with no real problem (more or less).

Unbeknownst to some (especially newbies), there are even rules on trains. 

Sora News has posted an article with a list of the top 10 annoying foreign tourist behaviors on trains.

They begin it with:

Japan is seeing more inbound foreign tourists than ever these days, which also means more inbound foreign tourists than ever on public transportation. But as locals and Japanese residents increasingly rub elbows on trains, that also means more chances for tourist behavior to rub locals the wrong way.

As part of its annual study on train/station etiquette, the Japan Private Railway Association collected responses from 5,314 participants via an online survey. 62.9 percent of the respondents said they’d been bothered by impolite behavior by foreign tourists, and the survey then asked them to designate up to two specific complaints, resulting in the following top 10 list (technically top 11, if you count the entry of “other”).

To see what they are, go here.