Those sunny summer days are all gone now, but it doesn’t mean we can’t still dream about vacation or choosing another destination for the autumn season. Who doesn’t enjoy traveling during the year, explore new cities and discover interesting cultures, right? But visiting Japan for the first time needs just a bit of previous preparation, as explained by the guys on Japan Talk.
Japan, one of safest countries in the world, with a rich culture and tradition is a must-see Asian destination for any traveler around the world. One of our most favorite globetrotters out there who goes by the name of Muza-Chan describes Japan as an entire different realm where one can go for many years in a row and still have something new to discover, taste, experience and feel.
From the most exquisite Japanese landscapes, to their fabulous exotic dishes and their strange but incredible traditional practices, Japan is a whole new universe and, even if we don’t know exactly if you really need well argued reasons to go to this amazing country, as well as meeting its warm and welcoming locals, we know that you surely need to be informed about the top 10 tips to know before visiting Japan for the first time. Take a look at these essential tips required once you put your feet on the this saint place called Japan, the country of sunrise.
1. English conversation with warm and welcoming locals
If you are traveling for the first time in a complete different country with new customs, a place where you don’t know the language at all, it can be tough, especially if locals don’t know English or speak poorly. Thus, don’t get too irritated or surprised about their accent when Japanese people say “Hello” to foreigners, because they are just trying to be polite with you.
You may be aware of their warm and welcoming way of being with all tourists, always ready to guide you and offer useful information, as when it comes to etiquette, they are probably the best in the world, so get ready a little to know, understand and practice common Japanese manners before you step foot to the country, as you might not willingly offend your hosts. However, you can impress them with a bit of Japanese, so try to say something in their language and smile friendly, because they will appreciate it.
You can start practicing some Japanese greetings for both use and understanding taking a look HERE
Photo via Flickr.com
2. No need for tipping
Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore, as immortal actress and style icon Shirley Temple would say. So here’s another good and useful thing to know before visiting Japan for the first time: tipping isn’t required. Whether you are going in restaurants, taking a cab or trying different salons, there’s no need for tipping.
Indeed, this custom is applicable in other European countries too, but in Japan, service people are paid decently for a living wage, so no need for showing your appreciation (and help the students get some pocket money) by paying extra to to waiter. Bottom line, keep your yen in the pocket for what’s really important: eating their famous gourmet dishes and specialties or visiting different places.
Before thinking if you have enough change to leave on the table, you should better study the Japanese restaurant and table manners, as they are plenty and will introduce you faster into understanding this fabulous culture.
Before you step foot into a Japanese restaurant, you can learn a few tricks about modern Japanese table manners HERE
3. Bowing, an essential gesture in the Japanese society
If you’ve been curious to know more about the Japanese culture, you’ve probably seen a few important movies, where locals are doing a bowing sign while meeting others, which is an essential method of greeting and showing respect.
From an early age, Japanese people are taught to show respect for elder people and the bowing is a part of it. How much you bow and to whom is also relevant, as well as using the honorific “san” after saying their name.
Let’s take a quick look over the bow types common in Japan
- The nod-bow, 5 Degrees. Casual and reserved only for good friends.
- Greeting Bow, Eshaku, 15 Degrees. For people you already know and are equal to, but not yet friends with
- Respect Bow, Keirei, 30 degrees. For people you show respect to, you don’t know and who are higher ranked than you
- Highest Respect Bow, Saikeirei, 45 degrees. For showing the highest respect (very high ranked people) or extremely deep regrets
- Kneeling Bow, Touch Your Head To The Floor. Not so common anymore but an old practice for asking forgiveness, specific to Samurai movies and martial arts customs
An incredible resource for understanding the significance of the bow and the situations it must be used you can find HERE
4. Take your shoes off in different areas
What else you should know before coming to Japan for the first time is related to a specific custom to follow while you are entering in different areas of restaurants or into someone’s house.
Therefore, get familiar with the saying “shoes on, shoes off” and -another important aspect- remember to wear nice and clean socks when indoors. Moreover, if you think it is unpleasant to take off your shoes, maybe you should think twice when you are entering in someone’s place with your dirty shoes or sneakers. In various houses/places, you’ll find racks with slippers to put on.
Taking your shoes off as a custom is not only reserved for Japan, as many Asian countries also practice this tradition. Moreover, you will find it in Scandinavia and even central European countries. The reason for the Japanese people taking their shoes off belongs to an older period of their history, even present in some modern household and consisting in the fact that they used the floor as a place for eating, sitting and even sleeping.
That minimalist Japanese-influenced luxurious furniture you may have bought for your house represents exactly this concept of not having too much furniture at all. So since they used to eat on the floor, it is not likely that they would have felt comfortable with somebody dragging all the dirt from outside to their table.
If you want to understand this tradition better, you should read more HERE
5. Chopsticks to eat Japanese food
You have to admit that Asian food is tasty and delicious, so if you want to experience local dishes in Japan, remember about the chopsticks, as an essential tool to taste Japanese food. If you are encountering problems with their utilization, check out here for more useful tips (how to hold it properly at the table).
You’ll surely need to use these chopstick while dining in any Japanese restaurant, so practice for a while. However, if you really want to get a sense on using chopsticks, maybe you should start learning a little about how did they ended up as being an eating utensil, why are they still using them and what is the difference between Chinese and Japanese chopsticks. Rest assured, though, if you are really unable to eat with the sticks, inside a Japanese restaurant they will give you a spoon or a fork.
But if you really want to learn the technique, there’s a video tutorial to explain you everything right HERE
6. Japanese people are focused on order and harmony
Unlike other cultures, Japanese people have different and strong values to respect, such as order and harmony in their own houses and they don’t like to disturb others’ privacy. If you are going to Japan for the first time, remember that speaking loudly on your mobile in a train, bus or subway or eating a snack while traveling are considered to be bad manners for Japanese locals. Needless to say that they are one of the most respectful nations who love their culture and show it a great appreciation.
Japan is known for having such a long list of social customs and etiquette, one might get lost and make some terrible mistakes if visiting, working or doing business for a brief period of time there. They have a list of rules from smiling, to passing a business card, crossing the street, religion, punctuality and so on and so forth.
Let’s see some of the most frequent and unacceptable social behaviors that might make you bow a lot in deep regret:
- Blowing your nose
- Talking on the phone inside a train (also forgetting to turn on vibrate, or “Manner Mode” as it’s called)
- Giving someone scissors as a gift (symbolic of severing a relationship)
- Don’t touch people, not even in group photos
- Don’t brag in public with your or others’ success
- Interrupting someone who is talking to you or your group
- Showing affection to your boyfriend or girlfriend in public (holding hands is OK)
For a broader list of acceptable and recommended behaviors in Japan, you can take a look HERE
If you want to see some strange behaviors that are accepted in Japan (while considered bad manners in the Western civilization), get amazed HERE
7. Japanese public baths
Once you’ve arrived in Japan, you are likely to see lots of spas and public baths in different areas of the city or rural zones. Before you get to try some relaxing moments, it is important to know that a Japanese bath is slightly different here than in other countries. Let’s see what TripAdvisor has in store for us in this chapter.
Thus, first of all, you need to be clean before entering in a bath which is for soaking in, while avoiding to expose your tattoos, because they aren’t allowed here. Also known as “Sento”, a Japanese bath is a great opportunity to relax, while getting used to the idea of being naked in front of others.
Going to the bath may be a little complicated at first, but it’s an experience you should try once while you’re there. Besides being very careful to shower and show everybody else that you are very very thorough with your personal hygiene and scrubbing, there are a lot more rules to follow.
Take a look over them and learn your ways HERE
8. What about the face masks?
Here’s another good thing to know about Japanese customs visiting Japan for the first time. If for other countries it isn’t a regular practice for locals to wear sterilized masks (excepting operating rooms in hospitals), in Japan you are likely to see thousands of locals wearing a mask on the face, especially during the cold season or the flu season.
The Japanese prove some sort of a fear of disease, and while it became all natural to wear a mask or use an anti-bacterial spray or gel once entered your office building, some fears turn into quite strange obsessions which opened the market for the sell of some incredibly funny, twisted and sometimes useless anti-viruses devices.
At a first glance, it would appear that all this mask wearing is just a simple way to protect their own health and stay away from a cold or bad flu and a respectful manner of preventing others to contract the flu they are carrying.
However, there are other adjacent reasons for Japanese to wear the masks in public that you can learn more from HERE
9. Watch your table manners
Maybe you’ve learn how to use chopsticks to eat Japanese food, but what about your table manners? This is another important aspect to keep in mind while coming to this country for the first time and being invited to someone’s house.
We said it before but we can’t emphasize enough: always remember that dining etiquette is strict in Japan and you need to know exactly how to act and behave. For example, when you are in a restaurant and take a seat, the waiter will give you the “oshibori”, a small wet towel to clean your hands before eating. Don’t wipe your face with the oshibori!
It is true that modern times managed to sweeten a little the old customs, and you will probably see even some Japanese breaking the rules. However, since you wouldn’t like to have foreign guests for dinner and they putting up a show at the table, some basic manners should be considered, no matter where you travel. Some of these Japanese basics include:
- Blowing your nose at the table is considered bad manners.
- It is considered good manners to empty your dishes to the last grain of rice.
- Talking about toilet related and similarly unappetizing topics during or before a meal is not appreciated by most people.
- It is considered bad manner to burp.
If you’re planning a business trip to Japan, there are at least 7 common mistakes to avoid if you don’t want to look stupid. HERE
10. It is a safe place
Aside from being a warm and welcoming nation, Japan is also a safe place to travel, but it doesn’t mean you need to throw all caution away. Some reported Japan as not being the safest place for foreign women, but isolated incidents are common in almost every safe country you travel to. However, you can walk safely on streets, knowing its lowest crime rate in the wold, and not to be afraid about being assault by strange people.
However, Japan has not completely eradicated some petty crimes, some domestic violence and even some major crimes going on, as murder or rape, but compared to other countries and listening to visitors and foreign inhabitants, it is indeed much safer than other European countries or U.S. cities. Some people with deep knowledge and experience in living in Japan emphasized the next following reasons why Japan is a safe country:
- Societal and family pressure. Having a crime suspicion, accusation or conviction is a heavy burden on the family, i.e. You lose the employment if your sibling commits a severe crime.
- Shame falls on not only over the family name but over all of their ancestors. Japan is a homogeneous society and generations have lived in one place and under one roof (or in close vicinity) in harmony(at least to the neighbors). Foreigners are mistrusted and having the family’s name connected to a crime is the worst that could happen.
- This is a no-gun society.
- Crime solving rate is very high by the police.
Have you been to Japan before? Can you tell us your first impressions, as well as what you enjoyed the most in this country? Please leave a comment below and share your experience.
Ioana Daniela says
Thanks for your comment, Yasmin. Indeed, in Japan, the tipping system may be considered an insult, so there’s need to evaluate their services and leave a specific reward.
Yasmin W. says
Do not let tip for the waiter? Very cool! I never thought I will hear that about a country. In any case, that thing with masks seems a good idea, although initially, it seemed moved