i want to visit japan so bad. whats the learning curve to be able to enjoy it? i don't want to be a bad tourist but japan strikes me as the kind of place you definitely need to know some stuff about before you go
there are a bunch of rules you wanna know but people also exaggerate them too much sometimes. like some people will tell you you arent supposed to "eat while walking" but i think its only
if it would be messythe thing is, if you break the rules people are most likely just gonna silently judge you, they generally arent very confrontational, so you probably wont even know if you did something wrong
i will just rattle off everything i remember
- take off your shoes before you go into someone's house, or a bathhouse, your hotel room, etc. usually there will be an entrance area where you can take them off
- youre supposed to be quiet on public transit, like dont take a phone call but quiet conversation isnt a big deal. just match the vibe of the train car/bus i guess. also eating is generally not okay especially if it has a strong smell. (its okay to eat on the shinkansen though it's very common)
- obviously dont litter but also keep in mind that there aren't many public trash cans and you will probably have to carry all of your trash back to your hotel. you can find trash cans in convenience stores sometimes but not always.
- the polite/formal way to hand people stuff or receive stuff is with both hands
- dont stand in the way in public
- dont take up more space than you need to on the train
- dont take identifiable photos of people without their permission. dont think it matters if they are just in the background of your torii gate selfie or whatever
- tipping is not expected and can actually be considered rude
there are a billion reddit threads and articles about this you can figure it out on the way there.
this is pretty comprehensive
